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Viewpoints Our Views ■■ ' « After Floyd Dear Editor: Hurricane Floyd may not have caused much direct weather concern to Houston Countians but it did result in a monu mental effort and opportunity for all to see how we can respond to a large scale disas ter. The lead ership of our county and city execu tives. the coordination of all efforts by our 1 HEMA, law to the Editor p.o. Drawn- M Parry, 6a. enforcement, and fire department person nel. and the many hours of hands-on care by hundreds of volunteer care givers resulted in thousands of coastal evacuees obtaining shelter, nourishment, and a warm welcome here. There will be many letters written and appreciation justifiably acknowledged over the next weeks. To attempt to recog nize every agency and individual volun teer would be difficult since there were so many. The roles of the staffs of the nursing homes and rehab centers, the nursing, clerical, and administrative staffs of both the hospitals, the Red Cross personnel, the police from all three cities and sher iffs officers, the Air Force personnel, the various city and the Houston County Fire Departments, and the nursing and cleri cal staffs of the Health Department and District Health Office, all under the coor dination of Jimmy Williams of HEMA, were very visible throughout the entire effort. Not as visible but Just as real were the long hours of the nursing home person nel, school employees, recreation depart ment staff, and private physicians who assisted. Many medical needs were met; many medical disasters were averted. Emer gency Rooms were busy and dialysis facil ities were full. Many extra meals were prepared. Much sleep was lost. Much was learned, a lot was given, and much will be different "next time." But, most of all, we learned again that we have a lot of folks here who really care and give of themselves unselfishly. We can all be proud of that. A particular acknowledgment is due for Diane Banister, RN., Carole Stevens, Jason Smith, and their staff from Hous ton County Health Department for their organizational leadership and bedside care of our visitors and for seeing that there were no epidemic disease out breaks. Thank you to everyone! For the Houston County Board of Health. David. N. Harvey, MD. Chairman Some Savannah thanks To whom it may concern: Recently my family and I had to evacu ate Savannah due to Hurricane Floyd. With the sudden onslaught of evacuees searching for available lodging, we found ourselves virtually stranded. On a wing and a prayer (and also my last hope of finding lodging after driving in excess of 12 hours) I stopped in at the Periy Welcome Center. I had pretty much given up on trying to find a hotel room since it was late Wednesday morning. I asked the very helpful receptionist if she knew if anything was available in their area. 1 was in luck! Just minutes before she had received a telephone call from Dolly who manages The Hamptons apartments. There were completely fur nished executive apartments for rent for folks like us. Never before had 1 received such a warm and open welcome from a virtual stranger. Of course we dashed over after a brief phone conversation and were so pleased to find that not only were the apartments brand new, the cost per night was absolutely unbelievable. My kids and 1 rented a great one bed room apartment for two nights for less See LETTERS, Page 5A Houston Ham Journal P.O Drawer M • 807 Carroll Si. • 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 Dorset! 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 C 7\ Life in the world of hi-tech communications Communication. It seemed so simple. It once consisted of a let ter, a phone call, or a personal visit. Not anymore. With the addition of fax machines, com puters with internet service for E-mail, pagers, and cell phones, communication has taken on a life of its own. I have a pager, access to (not one, but two) fax machines, e mail, and telephone numbers (yes, plural). I can be reached almost anywhere I go. I do not have a cell phone. I am so thankful for that. I know they can be useful. I can imagine using one if I was stranded some where, or if some such emergency occurred. In fact, my husband and I have discussed getting one for just that kind of tiling. I am just not sure I would be interested in using one to chat The Peanut GauirV I'M DEPENDING ON YOU. AND YOU CAN TAKE THAT to tm LOMTI6I POUTICUM ©Atmi '99 rayloons@hom.nct Midnight in the garden of loudmouth mayors Don’t get me wrong. I love Savannah. It’s a beautiful city full of live oaks, Spanish moss, fine his torical buildings and great seafood restaurants. They just happen to have a mayor down there right now who shoots off his mouth with out knowing what he’s talking about and criticizes the very people he should be thanking. Here's the story in a nutshell. Savannah had to be evacuated because of the possibility that Hur ricane Floyd was going to hit there. Many of Savannah s evac uees wound up in Perry. Some were staying in local motels, but more than 3,000 wound up at the Georgia Agricenter in a temporary shelter arrange ment. Among those were a few folks who had been let out of jail to flee the hurricane. They were angry about the long bus trip they’d had to take and the accommodations they had at the end of their trip. So they raised all kinds of cane, rocked the buses when they didn’t leave soon enough, and tried to take “souvenirs” home with them from the Agricenter. Perry’s police department, which had not been notified Savannah was sending people 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 cost Page 4A Wed., Sept. 22. 1999 Torey Jolley Home Journal Staff on for the sake of catching up with friends on the latest tidbit of news. What could 1 have to say that could not wait until I got home or to the office? Take the dinner out of the oven? Did you start the laundry? Perhaps tiy to be the right caller for a radio contest? How long does it take to go from “I’ll only use it for emergen cies” to endless chatting? Charlotte Perkins Home Journal Staff straight out of jail to be housed in open quarters with law-abid ing people, handled all this extra work exactly as they should with firmness and with professional restraint. So, guess what happened when these folks got back to Savannah? After they threw a few bottles at the Salvation Army, they complained to their mayor about the treatment they had received in Perry. Now, a reasonable public official might have made a few phone calls, looked into the sit uation, and apologized to the City of Perry for the nuisance caused by a few Savannah mal contents. Mayor Floyd Adams didn’t do the reasonable thing. Instead he did something that deserves to be added to “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," just of space occupied by the error We cannot be responsible lor 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. Icyalty and a strong dedication toward printing the truth. Member of Georgia Press Assqciation and Nation al Newspaper Association. I am not condemning cell phones. I know they have their uses, but I often see people talk ing on them while driving. I have been nearly run off the road numerous times because some one was talking on the phone. Besides being unnerved, I was curious. What could have been so important that they had to be on the phone while driving? Per haps, they were surgeons who were delayed on their way to a life-saving operation and forced to give instructions on how to keep the patient alive until they reached the hospital? I’d hate to think 1 was nearly a statistic because someone needed a tee off time or an appointment to get their nails redone. In addition, people forget to turn off their phones (and, often, their pagers) during church. P§£ for the pure ironic idiocy of it. He apologized to the people of Savannah for the treatment they received in Perry and told the media down there that Perry’s Chief of Polic e. George Potter, had “overreacted," apparently believing that the Perry police had set dogs on the people oi Savannah and used tear gas and marc, in short, he believed a bunch of lies Here's what I wonder. I won der where the Mayor of Savan nah was at about 11 p.m. last Wednesday night, and what he was doing. I happen to know what Chief of Police George Pot ter was doing, because a Red Cross volunteer told me. He was pushing a shopping cart around Wal Mart buying 50 blankets. 50 pillows. 100 towels and 100 washcloths. He did that because the Perry volunteers who were taking care of 140 disabled people from Savannah at the Rozar Park recreation center had told him they still needed more blankets and towels. George Potter didn't fool around. He- went out and solved the problem then and there. I limself. Maybe the Mayor of Savan nah would consider that an "over reaction," too. Houston Home Journal "Congress shall make no law respecting an estab lishmenl 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. 311069. ISSN: 1075-1874. movies, and meetings. They for get their right to keep in touch often violates others' rights to not be disturbed. I guess I just do not want to be totally accessible all the time. I enjoy having some peace and quiet (and at my home, peace and quiet are at a premium). I believe the world is small enough. Too much “keeping in touch”: isn’t great. It is smother ing. What I would like is a nice long letter (not e-mail). I would read it slowly, savoring the words, while enjoying a cup of steamy hot herbal tea. I think 1 will break out the sta tionary I have and pen a long let ter to someone I love. It will be a nice surprise for them— some thing in their mailboxes besides bills and junk. And maybe one day. I’ll get a letter too. Bob Tribble Home Journal President Might be time to return to the draft "Be all that you can be" has been a popular jingle used by the US Army as a slogan to attract new enlistments for the past 18 years. Now, officials are considering whether or not it is the right slogan for today’s 18 to 24 year olds. With a new century approaching, the largest Amer ican military branch is looking for ways to fill its depleted ranks. Th enlistment goal of 74,500 new recruits for 1999 is expected to fall at least 7,000 short in the worst recruiting year since 1979. Not that slogans necessarily make advertising effective, Advertising Age Magazine ranked "Be all that you can be” the number two jingle of the century, behind McDonald’s "You deserve a break today." Roland Rust, professor of advertising at Vanderbilt Uni versity, said the Army slogan rivals Nike’s “Just Do It" for staying power. However, he added “You have to ask whether Generation X is wanti ng to be all it can be." The Army plans to spend at least $92 million on an ad campaign next year in an effort to enlist 80,000 new soldiers. If this number is enlisted, the cost per new soldier for adver tising will be $l.lBO each. Other new approaches will be sending younger soldiers to work in recruiting offices and giving new recruits leave after basic training to talk with their friends back home about their Army experience. While the Army may keep their famous slogan "Be all you can be," future ads may appeal to the patriotic spirit of our young people, as well as the opportunity for self improve ment. Let's talk for a minute about patriotic spirit. Without a doubt, serving in the military will make one more patriotic. That is one reason the draft made sense to me. Those of able body and mind should have no problem giving two years of their life to serve this country. Many people have given much more than that. I feel the draft gave the Army a better pool of soldiers. You got the farm lads, the big city guys, the doctors, lawyers. See TRIBBLE. Page 5A ■k i Pi ,>