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Viewpoints
Our
Views
HB 489 is good
What started as a very good idea,
House Bill 489, has ended in a
series of meetings and frustration
for some local governments. One of
the major issues involved is. turf
who will be responsible for deliver
ing the service, and thus the gov
ernment of record for that area.
Since we advanced from commu
nities to towns and counties, there
have been turf battles. In Georgia,
we handled that problem for 150
years by simply creating another
county. We were so good at it, we
created 159 counties, second only to
Texas in the United States in num
ber.
We also created many small king
doms where someone is king. This
may be a county sheriff, a mayor, a
county commissioner, perhaps even
a tax commissioner. Whoever is the
powerful political force in the com
munity is veiy reluctant to give any
ground to otners for fear of losing
position.
Even with the problems created in
Houston County among the various
governments, the exercise of
attempting to consolidate service
areas is a good one. With a little fine
tuning. House Bill 489 will benefit
the residents of the state.
Not down for the count
Lately, I had gotten somewhat confused
and disillusioned about my diabetes. I
had a period
when my
blood sugar
was all over
the chart. I
was starving
and wanted
things to eat
I knew I
could not
have (and,
yes, I stuck
to my diet
regardless of
Toney
Jolley
naff
how starved I felt).
I was feeling poorly. I went to see my
primary physician and his attitude kinda
made me feel silly for coming into the
office with my concerns. I called an
Endocrinologist for an appointment after
that visit.
Recently, 1 went for more testing on my
diabetes as requested by the Endocrinol
ogist. I didn't have a great time with the
tests. However, I have learned more about
this disease from him, and his patience
and understanding were great. No rush
ing me. Complete attention to each of my
questions.
One thing, and this one was interesting
1 have a lot of skin tags on my arms
and neck. These skin tags “told" my
Endocrinologist that I have had a problem
with my insulin for a while. Secondly. I
have some thickening and some darken
ing of skin in certain areas (my neck
being one such area) that also indicates
an insulin problem.
He checked my feet. (A nurse at the
Diabetes Management Class 1 attend at
Perry Hospital told me a good doctor will
always thoroughly inspect the feet.) He
said 1 do have some loss of circulation to
my feet, thus a lessened sense of feeling
especially in the areas of thick skin, i.e..
heels. That could explained why my feet
fall asleep so often and because of the
loss of circulation, my heels tend to split
some.
The specialist encouraged me to contin
ue my diabetic diet and losing weight. He
stressed the diet is actually the way peo
ple are supposed to eat no fast food,
high fat foods, or high sugar foods. He
said to add in at least 30 minutes of walk
ing a day everyday.
He said once the test results are in, we
See TEST, Page BA
AbM Home MmM
P.O. Drawer M • 807 Carroll St. • Perry. Oa. 31080
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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 Lewis Lifestyles
Rob Mead News and Circulation
Charlotte Perkins News and Composition
Paula Zimmerman Bookkeeping
w
Sometimes work seems more like a prison cell
One of my long-time friends is
Maggie Thompson. Although I’ve
never met Maggie. I fed as if we've
known each other for years.
She has been at several confer
ences my wife has attended, and
Maggie and I exchange stories via
email regularly.
Frequently. Maggie shares
something really sharp. She shared
this little thought with me a few
days ago:
In prison you spend the majority
of your time in an B'xlO’ cell. At
work you spend most of your time
in a 6’xß’cubicle.
In prison you get three meals a
day. At work you only get a break
for one meal and you have to pay
for it.
In prison you get time off for
good behavior. At work you get
~Th£ Pewtsr Gau£RV
©Amn 99 1
Poor, honest women need support group
There’s an organization, associ
ation or support group for just
about every ailment, disorder and
disadvantage except the one I per
sonally suffer from, so I’m looking
for fellow female victims.
Want to know if you're eligible
to join my group? Well, just
answer the following questions.
1. Have you ever in your life
been surprised to learn that it’s
payday?
(As in “Oh. my goodness, is it
really the end of the month so
soon?")
2. Do you think that the term
“financial straits" means:
(a) having to dip into your cap
ital?
(b) having to take some money
from savings?
(c) having to take all the nick
els, dimes and quarters from the
teapot you hid them in, and being
really pleased to discover that
you've got $7.35.
3. Is your idea of a major finan
cial crisis
(a) losing $50,000 in the stock
market,
(b) having to cash in some
bonds,
(c) having to put your car in the
shop?
If you answered “Whoever
heard of such a thing as not
knowing when it’s payday?” to the
first question, and (c) to 2 and 3,
you can join me in “Poor but Hon
est Women" Or maybe we should
call it “Coalition for Financially
Our Policies
Unsigned appearing in larger type on
this page tinder 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 cost
Page 4A
Wed.. Sept. 1, 1099
41
Johnson
11 ■■■in ■■
name
rewarded for good behavior with
more work.
In prison a guard locks and
unlocks all the doors for you. At
work you must carry around a
security card and unlock and open
all the doors yourself.
In prison you can watch TV and
play games. At work you get fired
for watching TV and playing
Charlotte
Perkins
Hume
Staff
Challenged Females."
Maybe we can drive our falling
apart cars to some central loca
tion on the 14th and 30th of each
month, share our peanut butter
sandwiches and hard luck stories,
and discuss paycheck-to-pay
check strategies, like buying gas a
gallon at a time.
I’ll even wear my T-shirt that
says, “I'm a liberal arts graduate.
Would you like fries with that?”
Think how supportive we could
be to one another. We could give
each pep talks and tell each other
the reasons for our ongoing finan
cial stress.
Me? I’ve got all kinds of good
reasons for honest poverty. I'm
female. I’m old as the hills. I'm on
my own. Nobody warned me when
1 was young that majoring in Eng
lish was about as practiced as
majoring in medieval tapestry
weaving.
And in addition to the basic
unfairness of life, I’ve had a life
long inclination to do what I like
doing, so I've wound up working
of space occupied by the error.
Wr 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
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.
. w|'
in one of the poorest paying pro
fessions on earth.
Besides, 1 had to have a root
canal last fall. Do you know how
many days a newspaper reporter
has to work to pay for a root
canal?
There’s also the “Lady Bounti
ful" problem. I'm used to being
poor, but I've never mastered
“cheap." I tip everybody whose
income depends in part on tips. I
am constitutionally unable to
turn down church folks selling
tickets for barbecued chicken and
firefighters standing with those
boots in their hands, asking for
money to help Jerry's kids.
If you're eligible for my support
group, you've probably got some
good reasons, too. Maybe you’ve
given half your pay to an ortho
dontist for the last three years.
Maybe you have a car which start
ed dying before you got it paid for.
Maybe you don’t have health
insurance and you're living on
fishsticks and tater tots for the
next year because you went to the
emergency room with a chest pain
that turned out to be indigestion
and it cost you $950 anyway.
Or maybe you got paid yester
day, and after paying your bills,
you’ve got $62.34 to get by on for
the next two weeks.
Hey, give me a call! We need to
get organized and pay our dues
before Christmas arrives and
demolishes us all.
■mL j
Houston Horn Journal
games.
In prison you get your own toilet.
At work you have to share.
In prison they allow your family
and friends to visit. At work you
cannot even speak to your family
and friends on the phone.
In prison all expenses are paid
by taxpayers with no work
required. At work you get to pay all
the expenses to go to work and
then they deduct taxes from your
salary to pay for prisoners.
In prison you spend most of your
life looking through the bars from
the inside wanting to get out. At
work you spend your time wanting
to get out and inside bars.
In prison you can join many pro
grams which you can leave at any
time. At work there are some pro
grams you can never get out of. In
prison there are occasionally war
dens who are sadistic. At work we
always have managers.
•••
Many of you commented about
the older than dirt quiz last week,
some even admitted they are as old
as I am.
Two questions seemed to stump
more than others. One referred to
Beanie and Cecil. That one caught
me. They were part of the Fran.
Kookla and Ollie cast.
The other was Black Jack gum.
This brand came in a blue package
with a black oval logo in the center.
It was liquorice flavored.
One other thing. The list at the
lower left of this page includes
everyone who works for this news
paper. Don’t see a name you
expect? They don’t work here.
Bob
Tribble
Home
Journal
President
Nothing like
Friday night ball
Without a doubt, the fall of
the year is definitely my
favorite time. The trees begin to
turn, the weather begins to
cool (thank goodness) and foot
balls begin to fill the air. Alter a
long, hot summer, these things
are much looked forward to.
In my book, there is no bet
ter place to spend a Friday
night than at a high school
football game. It seems that in
our town, and most of those
towns where we publish news
papers, a lot of life revolves
around the high school football
teams.
The atmosphere at these
games is one of excitement as
the band plays, the cheerlead
ers get everyone into the right
spirit, and the team takes the
field. There is nothing like high
school football on a Friday
night.
Next in my book is college
football. Sitting in a large stadi
um on a nice fall Saturday
afternoon watching your
favorite college, team is a real
treat. The tailgate gatherings,
either before or after the game,
add more enjoyment.
Then, there is professional
football. There was az time
when I thought if professional
football was on television, it
was a sin not to watch the
game. Those thoughts have
changed through the years
with so many games now on
television during prime time.
High school football rank
ings came out last week for
Georgia. Manchester, where I
graduated, is the third place
pic k in Class AA. The number
one team in AA is Carrollton,
the 1998 AA champions.
Mitchell-Baker, which Man
chester slid by during the 1998
state playoffs, is the second
ranked team.
Washington County, class
AA state winners in 1996 and
1997, rank fifth. Brooks Coun
ty, which beat Manchester for
the Class A state title in 1994,
is ranked seventh in the pre
season polls.
In the Class AAA rankings.
Peach County is in the number
nine spot, while in Class A,
Dooly County was picked as
the fifth best team and Twiggs
County tied with Bowden for
the 10th spot.
There have been many funny
See BALL, page 5A
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roll St., Perry. Ga., 31069. Periodicals Class
Postage paid at Perry. Ga. POSTMASTER : Send
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P.O. Drawer M. Perry. Ga. 31069. ISSN; 1075-1874.
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