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1910 fTTfi ftfl Mnuaton |Hmne If 2060
Washington St 7I L. 11 * 4 .4*4*, 14, I Watson Blvd.
Perry,Ga 4 I ltl> 41 ftl T ff ft Warner Robins, Ga
(478)987-1823 VMIV -MM* 4>CW (478)329-9900
“Houston Countv\ f />onl flronn Sinrp 1R70”
Esssssszssa
Daniel F. Evans
President
Editor and Publisher
Bobbie Parker Julie B. Evans
Assistant to the Publisher Vice President
Lula Batchelor
Accounts Receivables
111 —M—'
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Sharon Berryhill Advertising Director
Jim Hayes Display Advertising Manager
Cheri Adams Advertising Sales
Bonnie Evridge Advertising Sales
CJ Jackson Advertising Sales
Barbara Chastain Advertising Sales
Betty Goodroe Classified Advertising Manager
Sharon Jackson Classified Sales
Caroline Little Legal Advertising Manager
Emily Johnstone News Editor
Judy Hall Staff Writer
Luci Joullian , Staff Writer
Charlotte Perkins Staff Writer
James Tidwell Sports Editor
Beverly Ellis Production/Technology Manager
John Davidson Ad Design/Page Layout
Angel Elledge Ad DesignlPage Layout
Luci Joullian Ad DesignlPage Layout
Stacey Shy Ad DesignlPage Layout
.
Billy Townsend Print Operations Manager
Wayne Lenderman Press Foreman
Michael Land Pressman
Jimmy Townsend Mailroom Manager
Robert Buckner Distribution
Steve Reynolds Circulation Manager
POSTMASTER: Send Address Changes To:
The Houston Home Journal
RO. 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: hhj(«, evansnewspapers.com
Web Site: www.houstonhomejournal.com
Goon Time To View Our Blessings
Tomorrow is Christmas Day. Already writers of all
persuasions have told us how terrible it is that
Christmas has become so commercialized. This isn’t
the first year we have been told that. As a matter of
fact, we cannot recall a Christmas in recent times
when we have not been criticized for putting too much
emphasis on the commercial aspects of Christmas.
Maybe they are right. But it will not change next year
or the year after or the many years after that.
Christmas, as a time to give gifts and enjoy the boun
ties we have, is ingrained in the people of this country.
But there is more than crass commercialism abound
ing at this time of season. Many individuals and organ
izations have made super efforts to give gifts and com
fort to the needy. Thousands of children and their fam
ilies (those who have families) in our area alone will
find Christmas Day a time to enjoy because of the
efforts of these people.
Most of us are blessed with good jobs and a standard
of living that is the envy of the rest of the world. We can
pause to look at our many blessings and be thankful for
them.
And we can think about the real reason that we
observe Christmas Day. It should make all of us grate
ful and humble.
Is A Crisis On The Horizon?
For many years the trend in public school education
has been toward less students in each classroom, with
the caveat that this will translate into better educated
students.
So far, if test results are to be believed, it has not
worked out that way.
However, both state and federal mandates are requir
ing that classes become smaller in the years ahead.
A report of a week ago raises concern for the future of
quality public school education, unless an answer is
found.
According to the Professional Standards Commission,
which certifies teachers in Georgia, something like 20
percent of prospective teachers taking certification
tests failed them. More than half the prospective teach
ers attending some colleges failed the test.
This, of course, means that the number of students
graduating into the teaching profession will lag behind
the demand.
If this turns out to be true, will there be a need to
make a choice between quality teachers in larger class
rooms or marginal teachers in smaller classrooms?
We are sure that those who make the rules are look
ing at this looming dilemma very seriously.
Opinions
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Do your remember when?
I HAVE tried to think of some
way to write a column on this
occasion that will not be full of the
same trivialities and boring
recital of the same old things that
most people are expected to read
about at Christmas time.
So I went back in time and have
brought up to date some things I
wrote on another occasion.
Are you old enough to remem
ber when:
• Children used their imagina
tions and played games with each
other...and governments didn’t
spend bundles of money provid
ing them with organized and
supervised recreation?
• There were no government
giveaway programs...and people
were too proud to accept a hand
out without doing some kind of
work for it?
• Doctors made house
calls...and medical care was
affordable?
• We were lucky to get to ride in
the wonderful, remarkable T
model Ford?
• We got our water from
wells...and went to the bathroom
in an outhouse popularly referred
to as a “Chic Sale”.
• Airplanes were novelties...not
the most preferred form of trans
portation?
• News media struggled end
lessly to present the news accu
rately and fairly... instead of print
ing anything that will sell a paper
regardless of how inaccurate or
sensational or cruel?
During the hustle and bustle
of the holiday season, do you
ever find yourself wishing that
you could rewind the clock and
see Christmas through the eyes
of a child again?
Christmas traditions seem to
have been tailor-made for chil
dren. Isn’t it fun to see the
excitement in a child’s eyes as
he or she opens their new
Rapunzel Barbie or Pokemon
action figure?
If I close my eyes and try -real
ly hard, I can almost remember
this excitement as I sit among a
group of adults opening an end
less round of socks, martini
glasses and George Foreman
grills. Of course Christmas is
made for children. How many
children do you see hitting the
malls, struggling to find the
Houston Pome
Oh, to be a kid again
1 iKHHHI
. : v HHk .
Fey Evans
Columnist
foyevans 19@cox.net
• Gross meant 12 times 12...n0t
the description of something
repulsive?
• Young people were taught to
do simple math in their heads
instead of having to turn to a cal
culator for the simplest act of
addition, subtraction, multiplica
tion or division?
• You could tell the difference
between a boy and a girl by the
length of their hair or whether
they wore earrings?
• The last time the United
States got into a real war...and
won it?
• Before TV. .when radio was
king and you had to use your
imagination as you listened to
such programs as Jack Benny,
Fibber McGee & Molly, Fred
Allen, The Shadow and the mem
orable invasion of Earth by
Martians that frightened the
entire nation?
• Football was a really tough
perfect last minute gift;
addressing envelopes and lick
ing stamps, sending out
Christmas cards to every single
acquaintance they’ve ever had;
or staying up until 3 am to bake
some “goodies” for the office
Christmas party.
I’ve heard many an adult say
that they wish the holiday sea
son would hurry up and get over
with so that life could resume a
sense of normalcy. But, then
again, I’ve also heard a few
adults desperately wishing for
more time until the big day so
that they could complete their
shopping and the countless
other errands that must be done
before Christmas.
Kids don’t have this problem.
Their gifts usually consist of a
few ornaments or finger-paint
game played by 11 men on each
team going both ways with no
substitutions except for injuries?
• There was just one 11-man
All-American football team each
season?
I '
• Basketball players were short
enough they had to throw the ball
up to score a basket instead of
dropping it in?
• The United States govern
ment balanced the budget year
after year?
• Japanese cars were called “tin
cans” and Japanese radios were a
joke?
• We were all just plain
Americans...not hyphenated
Americans?
• The word “gay” meant
happy...not homosexual?
• A lady would not be seen in
public unless she was dressed to
the hilt, high heels and all?
• Gentlemen always opened the
door of a car or room for a
lady...and stood back to let her
enter or leave a room first?
• Women in the workplace were
a rarity...and then came the
arrival of “Rosie The Riveter”
who helped build airplanes and
changed the workplace forever?
• No self-respecting man would
be caught dead doing housework?
• A well-rounded, somewhat
plump woman was the ideaL.not
broomstick thin?
jm
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Luci Joussian
Staff Writer
ljoullian@evansnewspapers.com
ed Christmas cards made in art
class. They get two weeks off
(which, as all we adults know by
now, unfortunately just doesn’t
exist for grownups) to sled, play
with friends, play with toys and
eat all the sweets they can stuff
DECEMBER 24, 2002
• Some people thought the
moon was made of cheese...and
that there actually was a “man in
the moon?”
• Criminals were not pam
pered?
• Alleged childhood molestation
or abuse were not qsed...and
accepted...as legal defenses for
adults committing crimes, even
murder?
• There were no interstate
highways?
• Businesses could operate
without computers...and often
with less people?
• Baseball players played the
game because they loved it and
did it better than those multi-mil
lion dollar prima donnas now in
the big leagues?
• Discipline in the schools was
taken for granted and parents
backed up the teachers and prin
cipals?
• People could associate with
their friends and acquaintances
without congress passing laws
telling them that they had to add
others that they did not know or
did not want to socialize with
them...or go to prison?
• Americans were proud they
wei;e bom and living in a country
whose constitution guaranteed
them that everyone was
equal...before there were so many
laws making some people more
equal than the rest of us?
in their cute little faces. They
see the holiday season in all its
pure simplicity and for all the
right reasons - a chance to get
toys! Of course, with the mate
rialistic bent of our society, even
children are becoming a little
more jaded about the meaning
of Christmas. I’ll never forget
when we told my niece Olivia,
who was around two or three at
the time, that Santa’s elves
were watching her eveiy move
and that if she pitched a fit, the
big man wasn’t going to bring
her any presents.
Olivia, recognizing the simple
fact that grandparents usually
come more often and bring big
ger presents than Santa, said,
“No, it’s OK. Grandpa will just
pay the elves money and they
will hide their eyes.”