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♦ TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2003
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OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
President,
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
UGA Has Let Students Down
Approximately 300 college students who
expected to transfer to the University of
Georgia from two-year colleges this fall are
being left in limbo.
The University is not going to accept them.
And they have nowhere else to go this fall to
continue their education.
Here’s what happened: UGA overbooked for
its freshman class. This is the same thing hotels
and airlines do. They book more than they
expect to show up. This year about 500 more
freshmen are enrolling than UGA expected.
With this big influx of freshmen, UGA does not
have space for the transfer students.
If a hotel overbooks it will find you accommo
dations at another hotel. If an airline overbooks
and runs out of seats you are rewarded and
given a seat on the next plane. But it isn’t work
ing that way at the University of Georgia.
The provost of UGA says it was the “most dif
ficult” decision of his career when he notified
the transfer students they will not be accepted.
The fly in the ointment is this: The transfer
students were not notified that UGA was not
going to accept them until July, which was too
late for them to get into another university.
In other words, they were hung out to dry.
Their educations are being interrupted for a
year. Some probably never will return to col
lege. It is a shame.
UGA is a state university. It should not treat
students so shabbily. We sympathize with the
transfer students and their parents, many of
whom are making great financial sacrifices to
send their children to college.
What has happened to them is uncon
scionable. It should never happen again.
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Reader praises Joullian's column
Editor:
I’d like to thank Luci Joullian for her commen
tary, “Why pick on gay people?” in Wednesday’s
Houston Home Journal. Quite frankly, given the
seemingly conservative nature of the Journal, I
was surprised. Very nice - thoughtful as well as
thought-provoking.
I think the answer to her question as to why
many heterosexuals feel threatened by homosex
uality is threefold. Like other intolerances, they
don’t understand it (thereby fearing it), their
religious faith says it’s wrong, and they don’t
want to understand it. They know all they need to
about it. It’s sick, warped, deviant, depraved, a
sin punishable by exclusion and eternal damna
tion - yada-yada-yada, ad nauseum.
I have to wonder sometimes how the Christian
faith, particularly fundamentalism, lost sight of
the basic teachings of Jesus of Nazareth and
became, in many instances, an institution of
intolerance and bigotry, whether against gays and
lesbians, Muslims, Buddhists, people of color,
“our enemies,” etc, etc. Anyone or group that’s
not just like you are, or want them to be.
The July 21 Newsweek has an article about Jon
Krakauer, author of the book “Under the Banner
of Heaven,” that details the murder of two people
Rex Gambill
Managing Editor
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
Mayors demand of silence understandable
AN ORDER issued by Mayor
Donald Walker got quite a ride
recently. The mayor told city
employees that if they want to
talk to members of the media
they should let his office know
about it so they would get their
facts straight.
The mayor was accused of
trying to browbeat city employ
ees and deprive them of their
First Amendment rights. His
order was interpreted as gag
ging city employees completely
in their relations with the press.
At a city council meeting the
mayor made it clear that, as far
as he is concerned, city employ
ees can talk with the press all
the want to about anything but
city business. He wants what
they say about city business
cleared so that it is accurate. In
the aftermath of Mayor
Walker’s statement he was
referred to as “bombastic” and
“great and powerful” in a
derogatory way. He may be
“great and powerful” and a lot
of other things, but the mayor,
who talks in a low voice, almost
in a monotone, falls short of
being bombastic.
• • •
IT IS NOT uncommon for
members of the press to blow a
gasket anytime they fear that
someone is interfering with
their god-given right of access
to information. Often the indig
nation is ill-founded.
Burke answers some reader mail
I thought I’d use this column
to catch up on some reader mail.
Asst. Public Defender Carolyn
Hall wrote about my criticism of
the indigent defense bill. I
enjoyed her analogy about
whether I would be interested
in my brakes working 1,200 per
cent better. Taking her analogy
and applying it appropriately,
the result is this. If the brakes
on the cars in 153 counties work
just fine, but six counties the
brakes don’t work so good,
would you fix the brakes in the
six counties or make everyone
in the state join a new program
to “fix” brakes that were work
ing for 153 counties? That is
what this bill seeks to do. There
were a few instances where
indigent defense programs were
inadequate, so instead of hurt
ing the feelings of those com
mitting malfeasance, we man
dated that everyone join this
wonderful new program. It’s so
good that we allow a few select
counties to “opt out” if they
want to.
Ms. Hall complains that I
opined that the program may
cost $75 million, but she con
tends that there are lower esti
mates. She’s right, of course.
There are also higher estimates!
The estimates from many
respected publications and leg
islators have indicated that the
cost could be as high as SIOO
million. The point is that no one
knows what this program will
cost, which is a scary way of
enacting legislation.
A reader commented about
the Estrada nomination contin
uing to be held hostage by the
minority Democrat senators,
which is unprecedented in
American history. The reader
by Mormon fundamentalists who believed they
had been instructed to do so by God, based upon
their faith. When he asked one murderer what
the difference was between him and Osama bin
Laden, the murderer replied, “I’m right and he’s
wrong.” Krakauer goes on to say, “That is essen
tially what all religions rely on. Everything comes
down to faith. And when people rely on faith
rather than rationale thought for important deci
sions, the world becomes a much more frighten
ing place.” Sad, but true in these days of conser
vative compassion and fundamentalism.
If only people would open their minds a bit,
imagine what could happen. But that requires
effort, so ...
I also think some people possibly fear or are
uncomfortable with what they may see or feel
within themselves in terms of their own sexuali
ty. There’s the Yin and Yang, male/female aspects
some believe we all have, but not all are attuned
to. Who knows?
The LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgen
der) couples my spouse and I count as our friends
have loving, caring relationships of mutual
respect and acceptance where aspects I call “shun
words” are used extensively; attention, affection,
appreciation, communication and consideration.
Are these relationships any different than that of
a hetero couple, aside from gender? From the
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
j(P«
MB •
• ' ■ • " - ' 1 '
Foy Evans
Columnist
foyevansl9@cox.net
I see what the mayor asked
for in a special way. I have been
there. I know what can happen
when a city employee, only par
tially familiar with a subject,
talks to a reporter who is anx
ious to prove that he or she has
uncovered some corruption
under the nearest rock.
Once something is printed,
whether it is true or not, it
becomes the truth as far as the
public is concerned. A para
graph correction on an inside
page can be overlooked and not
believed if it is seen.
• • •
I WAS BURNED several
times when inaccurate informa
tion, provided by a city employ
ee, appeared in print.
The most egregious incident
occurred when Smith & Wesson
I ' \
Kelly Burke
District Attorney
distatty@houstonda.org
felt that the actions of the
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standpoint of egalitarianism, they’ve got many
hetero relationships beat, unfortunately.
As for our uncommitted LGBT friends, I’m not
sure I see the sexual promiscuity you reference as
being rampant in the gay community. I think
there are lonely people who are only seeking to be
accepted and loved. Unfortunately, no different
than heteros, they confuse and search for it in
one-night stands.
LGBT people have been and remain a part of
our society, like it or not. They work, pay taxes,
maintain homes, go to church (yes, there are
churches that welcome LGBTs) participate in
social justice activities, raise children in nurtur
ing environments and maintain a healthier world
view than many straight people I know. The tol
erance they show for all others is a lesson many
people might consider following.
I need to point out that gays and lesbians were
not the only group the Supreme Court decision
affected. While Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and
Missouri laws were written specifically to outlaw
homosexual relations, at least eight states have
anti-sodomy laws that apply to heterosexuals as
well, using Webster’s definition of sodomy as
their basis. Until 1998, Georgia maintained anti
sodomy laws affecting straights and gays alike
My Dad used to say, “It takes all kinds to build
a railroad.” And that’s really it. We’re all in this
came out with a new revolver
that members of the Warner
Robins Police Department
wanted to purchase. The city
did not provide weapons for
officers at that time. They had
to buy their own.
Because of the cost of the
revolvers, many of the police
officers were not financially
able to fork over the total cost of
a revolver at one time. So the
mayor and council stepped in
and purchased as many
revolvers as were needed, sold
them to the officers and let
them pay over a period of time
through payroll deduction.
For some reason, a reporter
got a city employee to say that
the mayor and council members
were being investigated by ATF
for criminal activity for selling
the guns.
An out-of-town daily newspa
per printed the story.
When the story appeared, the
agent in charge of ATF in this
area called me and asked what
was going on down here. He
assured me we were not being
investigated and he followed up
by telling the executive editor of
the newspaper so.
I knew the executive editor
personally and asked him for
the newspaper to print a retrac
tion as prominently displayed
as the original story. His reply
to me was, “I stand by my
reporter.”
Democratic senators bordered
on criminal. I disagree, but it is
likely to ratchet up the stakes in
future judicial nominations.
Once the Democrats have used
this procedure, it will become
commonplace. It’s a shame we
made it 225 years with “majori
ty rule” in the Senate only to
find that Senate Democrats will
stop at nothing to defeat nomi
nees. Political posturing over
judicial nominees is nothing
new, but using a filibuster to
defeat a judicial nominee had
never been invoked. Ever. Heck,
Texas Democrats actually fled
the state to keep redistricting
from occurring! What cowards
world together. Why not do as the core tenet of
any faith says, “do unto others...”? I think it
would be a better world.
Thanks again for a nice commentary
Bob Farquhar
Bonaire
DU checkpoint an inconvenience
Editor:
I thought I had seen it all in Houston County
when it takes two to six months to fix a traffic
light out of synchronization, but now we are hav
ing sobriety checkpoints starting at 9 p.m. on
major highways.
I got in one just south of Elberta Road Friday
night around 10:10. It took only 50 minutes to go
half a mile. I had at least a mile of traffic behind
me, and getting to the checkpoint, I saw no one
being prosecuted for drinking and driving. I guess
people were coming from shopping and dining.
I am all for getting intoxicated people off the
road, but gee, let’s use some common sense in the
matter, at least have portable bathrooms for chil
dren. It would be nice to have intelligent people
running your departments. It will be quite a
while before I patronize your city.
Steven Creech
Macon
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
The newspaper never did
retract the story and, as far as
the public was concerned, mem
bers of council and I were being
investigated by ATF for a crim
inal activity.
If information about the way
we were working with members
of the police department had
been cleared through the
mayor’s office, or someone who
knew the details of the arrange
ment, the story never would
have been printed.
• • •
DESPITE the belief on the
part of some members of the
public, as well as the press, that
most public officials try to hide
information from them, the
truth is that most public offi
cials want as much information
as possible made available to
everyone in order to prevent
misunderstandings. In a way,
their jobs depend on it.
Of course, there are excep
tions. But from my experience
dealing with public officials for
more than half a century I
believe that most of them
understand that perception is
more important than perform
ance and failing to be open with
the public is the quickest way to
get into trouble. The ones who
do not understand this make
headlines and, more often than
not, wind up being replaced in a
future election.
they were! It takes more
courage to accept defeat and
move on, than it does to be
totally an obstructionist and
fight when the cause is lost.
Finally, my brother was down
visiting and commented on how
hot it is here. He’s from
Knoxville, Tenn. About then,
the fire alarm in the house went
off because someone left the
outside door open. Now that’s
HOT!
Kelly Burke is Houston
County’s district attorney. He
can be reached at (478) 218-4810
or by e-mail at distattyCdhous
tonda.org.