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Viewpoints Our Views In a hurry At their Dee. 7 meeting the Mayor and Council of the City of Perry made a reasonable decision and set a bad precedent. Some very good arguments can be made in support of the decision itself, which was to provide sewage service to a subdivision in an area the city hopes to annex at some future point. On the other hand, they made that decision with a split vote and with questions unanswered in a hurry because a developer came before them saying he needed an answer that night in order to make a final decision and bid on the land the following day. In our opinion, this is a worrisome precedent for any governing body to set, and especially worrisome for Perry because both the growth of subdivisions and the extension of city services are likely to be such a dominant issues in the next few years. Government, granted, does not always move at “the speed of busi ness.” but we hope that this partic ular speedy decision will not give the impression to other developers that last minute requests regarding tax payers’ money will get a favorable response at Perry City Hall. More on the Trade summit Honorable Max Cleland Honorable Paul Coverdell U.S. Senators "...moral decline in the midst of eco- nomic pros perity." Tho m a s Sowell is an economist and a syndi cated colum nist. Only an economis t would make such a state Letters to the Editor p.o. Drawer M Perry, Go. merit. There = = is a place for economic statistics but economic statis tics do not provide a true picture. Yes, the protesters becoming violent probably diminished their accomplish ments. However. 1 see no moral decline simply for demonstrating against unfair and unethical business conditions. Another point worth considering: II the problems they were demonstrating against are not address this protest demonstration may very well be the calm before the storm. As elected officials you need to take note of this protest. This protest had nothing to do with moral decline. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. The poor have not benefited from the so-called “economic prosperity." I fear protests like the one in Seattle will escalate if our elected officials do not start considering the needs of dis advantaged. Stated another way, it is time to consider the needs of “Main Street" rather than "Wall Street." Ronald L. Cain Elko About our letters I'he Houston Home Journal encour ages readers to share their views. Letters to the editor are always welcome here. Letters should be brief, to the point, and about a subject of general interest to our readers. Letters must be signed and include a daytime telephone number for verification purposes. Send letters to the Home Journal at P.O. Drawer M. Perry. 31069. or bring them to the paper office at 807 Carroll St. Letters can be faxed to (912) 988-1181 or sent via email to homejrn@hom.net Houston Home Journal P.O Drawer M • 807 Carroll St. Perry. Ga. 31069 email homejrn@hom.net (912) 987-1823 (voice) (912) 988-1181 (fax) Boh Tribble President .Ij Johnson ...Editor and General Manager Ellen T. Green Advertising Director Phil Clark Sports Joan Dorset! Lifestyles Torey Jolley News Alline Kent Sports 171 / Pauline Lewis Lifestyles Rob Mead News and Circulation Charlotte Perkins .News and Composition Andy Stuckey Classified Susan R. Thomas Bookkeeping Our Policies Unsigned editorials appearing in larger type on this page under the label Our Views reflect the position of the Houston Home Journal. Signed columns and letters on this page (and elsewhere in this newspaper) reflect the opinions of the writers and not necessarily those of this newspaper. Signed letters to the editor are wel The formula: A little of this and a little of that I have a mixed bag of ideas to share this week: Folk who have used the lone tree near exit 45 of Interstate 75 as a marker to know they’re almost home will no longer have the tree to depend upon. Georgia Department of Trans portation crews took the tree down Dec. 7. The tree, located in the median a half-mile north of the exit, had a mate at one time, but it went away. Later, a traffic mishap took half of the tree trunk. Likely disease was the cause of the demise of this once lovely land mark. • •• Christmas at the Crossroads festivities last weekend were blessed with delightful shirt sleeve ~~TH{ PfAMt/T GALURY ——raytoonsCPhom.net 99 Adoption reunions: Are they a good idea? Here’s a request for some ideas from a special group of people those of you who were adopted or have adopted a child. My co-worker. Ellen Green, was adopted as a baby, and until recently, she never gave much thought to searching for her biological parents. As she explained it to me once, she was adopted by two very loving par ents, and considers them to have always been her mother and father. Period. However, in recent months she has come up against a need for family medical background, and she asked me if I would help her find a way to learn something about her birth par ents. “I don’t want to meet them!" she told me (four or live times, I might note) “I just want the medical information." I hit the internet that night and came up with some infor mation that turned out to be a gold mine. The State of Georgia has an adoption reunion service called “Families First." They specialize in searching for the kind of information Ellen want ed plus more for those who want more. Ellen got on the phone to them, explained that she just wanted the medical background and sent in a $35 fee. That was about six weeks ago. The other night, when she got home from work, a fat envelope was waiting for her. with no names, but a lot of information from 45-year-old. carefully kept - Wed., Dec. 8, 1999 Page 4A 41 Johnson Home Journal Editor weather. Some were heard to remark it was hard to imagine it was the first weekend of December, what with the temperatures nearing 70 degrees. Of course, there have been some rather bitter Crossroads celebra tions too. Years ago. when there was a foot race early the Saturday Chariot: tie Perkins Hnmp Journal Staff files. Sin' learned that she was born in Savannah, and that her birth (or biological) mother was a pretty and petite young woman from a Georgia farming family. She also learned that this young woman, who lived at a home for unwed mothers for several months before the birth, had spent those waiting months carefully making baby clothes. When Ellen was born, she was named Pamela by her birth mother, who said she was proud of her little girl, but wanted her to have two parents and a good home. (Remember that this was in the days that unwed mothers just did not raise their own babies, as many do now.) Ellen learned a bit about her biological father, too, enough to know that he was in the service at the time and hadn’t been honest about the fact that he had a wife and two kids in another state. The file contained details about hair and eye color and a great deal of general family information - but not much medical data, since these folks seem to have been very healthy. comed. Please limit letters to 300 words and include addresses and a telephone number for verification purposes. letters are not published without verification. Let ters should be sent to P.O. Drawer M. Perry, Ga.. 31069 or brought to the news paper office at 807 Carroll St.. Perry. Our liability for an error will not exceed the cost of space occupied by the error. We cannot lx- resjxinsible for the return of pictures or Submitted materials unless a stamped, return address envelope is included. Our Goal The Houston Home Journal is pub Now. the story could end right there, but having suddenly learned a lot more than she ever knew before, Ellen has found herself in a tumult, with some very mixed feelings. She’s thinking that maybe just maybe she should ask the Families First staff to try to locate her birth mother and see if a reunion is possible. What kind of mixed feelings does she have? Well, let’s say that she has questions. Both of her adoptive parents have passed away, but Ellen’s still wondering it if it would be some sort ot betrayal of them to want to meet the woman who gave birth to her. She’s also wonder ing how it would feel if her birth mother just plain didn’t want to see her and refused any idea of a reunion. At the same time, she’s intrigued with the idea of possibly meeting brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles (this was a big family) that she never knew she had. And, finally, she’s thinking that her three children might want to know more about their roots. Would it be better to leave things as they are or take a few steps further to find out if there’s a woman in her sixties somewhere out there who really would like to know what hap pened to the baby girl she sewed clothes for and named Pamela? Call me about this at 987- 1823 if ypu have some ideas or experiences to share. lished proudly for the citizens of Houston and adjoining counties bv Houston Publi cations Inc.. Perrv. Ga. Our goal is to pro duce quality, profitable, community-orient ed newspapers that you. our readers, arc proufi of. We will reach this goal through hard work, teamwork, loyally and a strong dedication toward printing tne truth. Member of Georgia Press Association and National Newspaper Association. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment 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. Houston Home Journal morning of the festival, it was quite common for runners to head out in temperatures below freezing. Many is the time this paper has published pictures of people bun dled together to survive the cold during the candlelight service, too. ••• We've received several entries in the Home Journal-sponsored Christmas at the Crossroads Home Decorating contest. If you have decorated your yard, or will have decorations ready by Dec. 16, take time to fill in the blank on page 8A and bring it to the paper office. The contest is free to enter, and includes prizes of SSO. 25 and 15 for the winners. Any home south of Mossy Creek is Houston County is eligible for the contest. ••• We need a new employee* at the Home Journal. It seems that just about the time Torey Jolley got set tled back in to our staff, her hus band received both a promotion and a transfer. Torey will leave the staff some time during the holidays, as soon as she and husband Dennis find suitable housing in the northeast Atlanta area. We're all going to miss Torey ter ribly. because she's not only a dependable reporter, but she enjoys her work. If you are interested, or krurw of someone interested in becoming a full-time reporter, give me a ('all at 987-1823. I hope Santa Claus has a new writer in his sack, ‘cause by early January, were going to lx* needy Bob Tribble Home Journal President GOP faces fight from reformers A recent nationwide poll showed the 2000 election sea son will witness more moderate voters than five years ago. These voters are expected to be less cynical about government and more supportive of Democ rat positions on top issues. The Pew Research Center, which conducted the poll, says the political landscape in 1999 is dramatically different from fives years ago. Moderates reign, they way, and the polls show American optimism at a high level due to the roaring economy. People were asked their feel ings about government, the poor, immigrants and minori ties. During 1995, two-thirds agreed government is always wasteful and inefficient. This year, only half felt that way. This year, 34 percent of those polled said they are Democrats, 27 percent arc Republications and 39 percent are independent. Five years ago, some 30 percent said they were Democrats, 32 reported in as Republicans and 98 percent were independent. While Republicans have a big advantage on the morality issue, most think they took the Clinton sex scandal too far. Democrats have an edge on issues such as Medicare, edu cation, the economy and health care. Norman Carter told the fnl lowing story in his Pobiddy Joke Book. The last time Jack Brinkley who was in Congress for several years, ran for office, a nice young gentleman named Steve Dugan ran against him. The story goes that Dugan said during the campaign hr didn't know how he was run ning so he decided to go down to the Post Office and count a hundred cars that came by. He did that and said 50 had “Brinkley for Congress” bumper stickers and the other 50 didn't have anything After doing that, Dugan sur mised he was running neck and neck w'ith Brinkley. My guess is that George W. Bush, a self described Republi can conservative, is not out county bumper stickers but if someone were, they would see more supporting Bush than any other candidate. All current polls show the Texas governor as the Republi See TRIBBLE. Page 5A and to petition the Government loi a redress of grievances. Your right to l ead this newspaper is protected by the first Amendment to the United Slates < onstitu tion. The Houston Home Journal (USPS 000471) is published weekly for $21.40 Kr year (including sales tax) by Houston bucations Inc., 807 Carroll 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 [k » i