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1910 Houston Monte rf 2060
Washington St 71 L* Jl **, I Watson Blvd.
Perry,Ga ft I I itf) 11 f| lIIT T /Tl W «mer Robins, Ga
(478)987-1823 t'lvill ilWl (478)329-9900
“Houston County's Legal Organ Since 1870"
Administration
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POSTMASTER: Send Address Changes To:,
The Houston Home Journal
PO. Box 1910
Perry, GA 31069
The Houston Home Journal, A Periodical, Mailed (ISSN 1526-7393)
At Perry, GA. Is Published Tuesday And Thursday For $30.00 Per
Year By Evans Newspapers, Inc.
1210 Washington St. • Perry, GA 31069
478-987-1823 Fax 478-988-1181
E-Mail: hly@evansnewspapers.com
Web Site: www.houstonhomejournal.com
Who Should Receive Damages?
The United States Supreme Court is considering a case which
involves punitive damages that were awarded in a law suit.
The court must decide if such damages should be allowed
or if they should be limited. More importantly, the court
should decide who receives money that is awarded as puni
tive damages if they are permitted.
*At the present time juries often award actual damages,
damages for pain and suffering and punitive damages in tort
cases. Actual damages and damages for pain and suffering
can be determined. Punitive damages is a way for a jury to
stick it to the defendant for alleged wrongdoing. Punitive
damages are the outrageous ones running into hundreds of
millions of dollars and even as high as a billion dollars.
In our opinion, it doesn’t make sense for a person who
smokes cigarettes for a lifetime to receive huge amounts of
money in punitive damages to punish the tobacco companies.
If the tobacco companies have done something wrong and
punitive damages are justified, in our opinion this award,
which really is a fine, should go to the government.
If such huge sums as punitive damages did not go to the
people suing for real damages we believe the number of law
suits would decrease dramatically.
Is Trent Lott Dispensable?
Sen. Trent Lott, soon to be majority leader of the United
States Senate, put his foot in his mouth recently and brought
scorn and criticism upon himself and, unfortunately, upon
his colleagues who did not scuttle him immediately.
Lott is not a good person to speak for and to lead
Republicans in the Senate. He proved that in the early
months of the Bush administration. He just does not have
the leadership abilities needed for the job.
The Republicans should have selected someone else for the
job a long time ago. Lott comes across as a bungler who real
ly is not sure what he wants to say and then says it in a way
that often makes what he says incoherent.
Republicans on the national level have a knack for shoot
ing themselves in the foot and this may be another opportu
nity for them to do so. If they want to continue to control
both houses of congress it seems that now is the time for
them to elect another senate majority leader with better
leadership qualities.
With a president who communicates with the people well
and is very popular it is imperative that the person who leads
the Senate and often is a spokesperson for his party’s poli
cies on important issues do it well. Sen. Lott does not. He is
no match for the Democrats’ senate leader —Tom Daschle.
Daniel F. Evans
President
Editor and Publisher
Bobbie Parker
Assistant to the Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Lula Batchelor
Accounts Receivables
Opinions
fbum. Jl
IV
Playing the job cut guessing game
THE REVELATION
recently that there is a possi
bility that the Air Force
Materiel Command will lose
something like 2,000 posi
tions in the next seven years
is hardly reason to become
upset.
Predictions of job cuts,
which seem to come every
month or so, are no more reli
able than circumstances
which cause them. It is a
guessing game, at best.
Nobody knows what the
future will hold. Nobody
today can predict with any
accuracy what the military
needs of our country will be
in the years to come.
One thing we can be sure of.
As long as there are wars
there will be the need for
materiel commands. And as
long as there are human
beings on the face of the earth
you can bet your bippy we will
have wars.
• • •
WHEN I CAME to Houston
County 54 years ago I saw
Let's rescue Chrlstmss from "The Holidays"
Every year about this time, I
start wishing The Holidays
were over.
I’m not talking about
Christmas. I love that day
when the stores close and the
world slows down and every
body gets together to unwrap
presents and eat too much,
and I’m partial to the day
before and the day after
Christmas, too.
It’s The Holidays that are
just getting to be wretched
excess.
Christmas starts after dark
on Christmas Eve, when the
last present is wrapped, and
you can go outside and listen
and almost hear the angels
singing in the faraway skies.
The Holidays start before
Halloween.
Christmas has a heart that
is always somehow the same
whether you’re one of the
grandchildren or one of the
grandparents. It’s about
memories of a whole lifetime
rolled together, starting with
fires in the fireplace, and the
smell of oranges and pepper
mint, the voices of kinfolks
coming through the open front
door.
plrmai an pLmtr Journal
Foy Evans
Columnist
foyevans 19@cox.net
frowns on the faces of many
people I met. I asked what
was wrong. The reply: The
base just had a RIF. I didn’t
know what a RIF was, but I
soon learned.
The base was in the process
of fulfilling one of its missions
when it came into being.
When the base was built in
the early 1940 s the mission of
the base was stated as being
part of the war effort, after
which it would close down.
The Holidays, on the other
hand, are about spending
money, about shopping malls,
about simpering made-for-TV
movies and about that vague
feeling of doom that comes
from digging out a credit card
one more time.
Christmas is about pyrocan
tha and holly on the living
room mantel, and a tree deco
rated with ornaments collect
ed and packed away carefully
year after year. It’s about cut
ting out snowflakes and mak
ing chains out of green and
red construction paper.
The Holidays are about
“Hey, Southern Living, why
don’t you drop by with a cam
era?” It’s about designer
Christmas Trees that look as
if they were gilded during the
Baroque era, and enough
money spent on decorations
and lights to feed a Third
World country for a year.
Christmas is about toys that
have a magical glow just
because they were brought by
you-know-who, about getting
out a hammer to crack those
brazil nuts. Maybe there’s a
new bathrobe for mom and a
tie for dad. Maybe there are
So in 1948 they were having
RIFS (reduction in force). A
base that during World War II
had a complement of more
than 25,000 was now down
around 5,000 and still shrink
ing. The base, which came
into being with the under
standing that it would disap
pear after World War 11, was
on its way out.
Then came the Korean War
and another buildup. Since
then, in spurts and occasional
small setbacks, the trend has
been ever upward with sums
of money poured into Middle
Georgia growing enormously
from year to year.
• • •
I HAVE seem euphoria
when new missions were
assigned to Robins AFB and
jobs were added to meet the
demands of these missions. I
have seen fright and despair
when there were cutbacks
and rumors spread that the
base was going to close.
Up. Down. Sideways.
The last BRAC was a time
- —J
cnanotts panons
StoffWriter
cperkins@evansnewspapers.com
some games to play after din
ner. Maybe a sweetheart gets a
piece of nice jewelry. Maybe a
college kid gets a new sweater.
Maybe there’s a bicycle.
The Holidays are about are
about ads showing mom look
ing starry-eyed because she’s
getting a Lexus with a bow on
top, and everybody in the fam
ily getting a cell phone. The
Holidays are about teens who
feel entitled to a massive
amount of Brand Name Stuff,
and little kids who desperately
want exactly what Mr. Mattel
meant for them to want.
Christmas is about Santa
Claus a mysterious and
DECEMBER 17,2002
of real concern, because poli
tics was injected into some
thing that was supposed to be
neutral and based on national
defense needs. Robins AFB
survived and, in my opinion,
is on such solid ground today
that, with community support
and strong influence in
Washington, the future looks
brighter than the past has
been.
• • •
THERE will be conscien
tious projections of the num
ber of jobs that will be lost or
added from time to time.
But they are merely projec
tions based on what is known
today.
The future is uncertain.
The possibility of wars
against nations and terrorism
may go on forever.
The people at Robins AFB—
military and civilian —fill
roles that are essential to
fighting wars. For that rea
son, time spent worrying
about potential job losses
seems wasteful.
wonderful old character who
lives at the North Pole and can
come down chimneys. Santa
Claus isn’t going to show up at
your house until the children
are “nestled all snug in their
beds.”
The Holidays are about cry
ing babies and apprehensive
toddlers being put into the
laps of fake Santas dressed in
cheap red felt so their parents
can pay to have their pictures
taken. Little kids never look
happy in those pictures, but
parents keep paying up any
way.
Christmas is about “Away in
a Manger” sung by children,
and “Go Tell it on the
Mountain” sung by the best
voices in town. Christmas is
about singing “Gloria in
Excelsis Deo” even if you can’t
sing.
The Holidays are about
“Have Yourself a Merry Little
Christmas” and “The Little
Drummer Boy” played end
lessly over an intercom sys
tem, and about dogs barking
“Jingle Bells.”
I can’t wait for Christmas to
get here, so that The Holidays
will be over!