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“Houston Cnuntv’x Ison! Oronn Sinre 1870"
1910
Washington St
Perry, Ga
(478) 987-1823
Administration
Bobbie Parker
Assistant to the Publisher
Advertising
Sharon Berryhill
Jim Hayes
Cheri Adams
Bonnie Evridge
CJ Jackson
Barbara Chastain
Betty Goodroe
Sharon Jackson
Caroline Little
News and Sports
Emily Johnstone
Judy Hall
Luci Joullian
Charlotte Perkins
James Tidwell
Production
■ ■ '
Beverly Ellis
John Davidson
Angel Elledge
Luci Joullian
Stacey Shy
Pressroom
Billy Townsend
Wayne Lenderman
Michael Land
Jimmy Townsend
Robert Buckner
Circulation
Steve Reynolds
POSTMASTER: Sent} Address Changes To:
The Houston Home Journal
EO. Box 1910
Perry, GA 31069
The Houston Home Journal, A Periodical, Mailed (ISSN 1626-7393)
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: Uu@evansnewspapers.com
Web Site: www.houstonhomejoumal.com
Looking Toward Better Year
For us here at The Houston Home Journal the past year has been
a good one. We are publishing twice a week and we have opened an
office in Warner Robins so that this newspaper can truly be
Houston County’s hometown newspaper.
All around us we have seen unbelievable growth and progress.
Houston County continues to grow—commercially and residential
ly—at an unbelievable pace.
County and city governments are in good hands and in good
financial condition.
We have seen a new determination among officials of all three
cities and the county government to work more closely together
than ever before. It bodes well for all of us.
We believe the best is yet to come.
Our county, once looked at skeptically as temporary in nature,
has blossomed into a major shopping area for all of middle Georgia.
Government officials are demonstrating that they are business and
industry oriented.
Newcomers flock here to live for many reasons, not the least of
which is a public school system with a reputation for being the best
in Middle Georgia and one of the best in Georgia.
We believe that 2003 will be the best ever for our county as the
state and country come out of the recession of the past three years.
And, of course, Georgia will have a new governor from Houston
County to lead us.
We are optimistic. You should be too.
BBAC Just Won't Go Away
Maj. Gen. Ron Smith, consultant to the 21st Century
Partnership, said it: “The next round of base closures will be the
Mother of All BRACS.”
You can’t be more ominous than that. Or specific.
Gen. Smith, a former commander of the Warner Robins Air
Logistics Center, is a man to listen to. He knows the way they think
in the Pentagon. He has contacts there. He knows how to put two
and two together.
The present Air Force Secretary has expressed his support for
the depot concept. However, there are detractors. And there is con
cern that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s determination to
restructure the entire military establishment may be bad news for
depots.
The message, then, to those of us to whom Robins Air Force Base
is so important, is to be vigilant and take every step possible to
make this base essential to the future defense of our country.
We need to heed the messages we receive occasionally from Gen.
Smith. He keeps his ear to the ground and has contacts in the
Pentagon. He is in a position to tell us what is going on, tell us if
we are vulnerable and where. And, most of all, he can give us the
guidance we need to emerge from the next BRAC unscathed.
It is a big order. But we hope that all of us—military and civil
ian—who want to see the WRALC continue to prosper will work
shoulder to shoulder to see it happen.
We honestly believe this is something at which we can succeed.
Daniel F. Evans
President
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Lula Batchelor
Accounts Receivables
Advertising Director
Display Advertising Manager
Advertising Sales
Advertising Sales
Advertising Sales
Advertising Sales
Classified Advertising Manager
Classified Sales
Legal Advertising Manager
News Editor
Staff Writer
Staff Writer
Staff Writer
Sports Editor
Production/Technology Manager
Ad Design/Page Layout
Ad Design/Page Layout
Ad Design/Page Layout
Ad Design/Page Layout
Print Operations Manager
Press Foreman
Pressman
Mailroom Manager
Distribution
Circulation Manager
Opinions
> 2060
Watson Blvd.
Warner Robins, Ga
i (478) 329-9900
Christinas excesses - Who's to blame?
I LOOKED around at all the
“loot” and wondered what has
happened to us. We’re such an
affluent society, unmindful of
the value of a dollar, to the point
that Christmas has turned into
a time of excesses unimaginable
years ago.
Each year parents bemoan
what has happened “this year”
and swear they will not go over
board next year. But they do.
Year after year. And it gets
worse each year.
What brought this on?
Sociologists blame it on my
generation. Really, they do.
Here’s the reasoning. We grew
up in the period of the Great
Depression, when we were
lucky to have food on the table,
and we came home from World
War II determined that “our
children will have it better than
we did.”
So we actually did give them
more. We made Christmas
something special in a material
way with more toys and goodies
than they needed. We thought it
was excessive then, but com
pared with today we were
Spartan in our spending.
• • •
CHILDREN now have come
to expect everything they want.
What a year! (And wasn't it fun?)
As we went through our
bound volumes here at The
Journal, and talked about our
top ten stories, it struck me
more than once that it was a
good year to be a reporter in
Houston County.
Sure, the big city dailies had
Sonny Perdue’s victory as the
top Georgia story of the year,
too, but I think we can all agree
that Houston County was the
place to be when those votes
started rolling in.
That victory will stay in our
minds a long, long time but
the night that was really even
more memorable was the night
of the big debate at Reaves
Arena, which wound up look
ing and sounding like a nation
al party convention.
But, besides the big stories,
there were all kinds of other
stories that made it a year to
remember, starting with that
beautiful ice and snow storm
that brought in the new year.
One of my favorite stories
was Alvalyn Pope’s winning
the Seabie Hickson award.
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Columnist
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They are disappointed and
angry if Santa failed to fill every
demand in their Christmas list.
Unfortunately, they really
appreciate hardly anything they
receive. When you get so much,
nothing seems important or
valuable.
A distraught mother told me
that she spent lavishly for her
only child, buying everything
the child had asked for. “Do you
know what he wound up play
ing with Christmas afternoon?”
she asked, adding, “The boxes
the toys came in. Can you imag
ine?”
Actually, I can imagine. I
Alvalyn’s one of those truly
good souls who isn’t looking for
credit so it’s great that she
got it.
Another story that’s not on
our top ten list, but was really
a treat at the time was
Commission Chairman Ned
Sanders’ escaping “the noose”
by (theoretically) getting the
courthouse and jail completed
on schedule (sort of).
Also, I liked re-reading the
articles we had about Chad
Alligood. Chad was the com
pletely unassuming senior
from Perry High School who
did us proud by being named
Georgia’s Star Student, and
then going on to Harvard. The
fact that he was class president
and had the starring role of
“Snoopy” in the school play
made it even better.
Another story that makes me
grin to think about it was the
one about those two wonderful
ladies in Warner Robins who go
out every night to feed hun
dreds of stray cats.
And, of course, we finally got
remember the Christmas when
a little girl was overwhelmed
with so many toys she had trou
ble opening all the boxes. After
looking at the toys and discard
ing them she wound up that
evening playing with a discard
ed toothpaste tube.
• • •
I WAS lucky enough to grow
up poor and in a period of time
when we expected very little
and that is what we received for
Christmas.
We looked forward to
Christmas and Santa’s arrival
eagerly. We knew he would
bring us apples and bananas
and oranges and tangerines,
things we had only at
Christmas time. He also
brought nuts and, usually, one
simple toy. We were thrilled.
Getting so little, we appreci
ated everything we received. We
did not have to sort through so
many things that nothing
seemed important.
In a way, I feel sorry for the
children of today who are
deprived of simple pleasures.
They are not to blame. They are
the victims, really. They are
missing so much when they get
everything they want.
• • •
JMJ
CftaiHotts Pspfdßs
Staff Writer
cperkins@evansnewspapers.com
our state park plans and pur
chases pinned down.
Speaking of Larry Walker
and his gift for getting good
stuff for his home county,
there’s another story I want to
reflect on. Regardless of any
political “picking on” the mule
and tenant farmer sculpture
that’s going up at the fair
grounds this year, that was
another one of my favorite sto
ries to write this year. It’s
going to be a beautiful sculp
ture art that will be appreci
ated by people from all walks of
DECEMBER 31,2002
I REMEMBER the day that
Mildred Niblack told me there
was no Santa Claus. I was
upset. I ran all the way home to
ask my mother if Mildred was
telling me the truth. I don’t
recall what my mother told me,
but I still believe in Santa
Claus.
We had very little in a materi
al way. But our family had each
other. I guess it is because I had
very little when young and
growing up that my wants
never have been great as I have
grown older.
As an adult I always have
been fulfilled if I had a place to
live, clothes on my back, a car
and food. Anything else is a
bonus and I never have aspired
to much more for myself.
• • •
IT ALWAYS has been more
satisfying to give than receive.
My wife and I give generously to
others at Christmas time. What
do we give each other?
Christmas cards because we are
blessed all year long and do not
feel the need to give presents
that are not needed just for the
sake of giving a present.
For me, Christmas has a more
important meaning.
life, and it represents the very
heart of middle Georgia’s agri
cultural legacy, and besides
that everybody’s grandchild
can sit on that mule’s back for
a picture. Now that the cam
paigning is over, let’s not be
barbarians. Pork barrel comes
and goes, but good art lasts for
centuries.
And there’s more.
Remember Shelby Arnold’s
successful drive to get a traffic
light at the intersection of
Hwy. 96 and Macon Road, and
remember the formidable
efforts and great organization
of Bobbe Nelson and others in
the Houston Arts Alliance to
get the Atlanta Symphony to
perform right here in Perry.
2002 was the year that we all
learned to vote on touch screen
computers which was a snap
compared to figuring out which
State Senate districts we were
in.
There’s more, but let me put
it this way. 2002 was a good
one. 2003 has a hard act to fol
low.