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♦ FRIDAY, JULY 25, 2003
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OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
President,
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Time To Think About University
The simmering feud between University of
Georgia President Michael Adams and rabid sup
porters of Athletics Director Vince Dooley has gone
on long enough.
We like to believe that everyone - Georgia foot
ball fans, Dooley and Adams - is primarily con
cerned with what is best for the university.
What has been going on over the past few weeks
could do irreparable harm to the university and its
reputation.
This week Dooley stepped up to the plate and
asked that his supporters accept the fact that
Adams had the right to do what he did. He
expressed concern for the university. And he asked
that Adams and his family be given relief from the
attacks they have endured.
Later in the week U.S. Sen. Zell Miller came for
ward and expressed concern for the university.
This should help put out the fire.
Finally, after weeks of resentment against Adams
for not renewing Dooley’s contract, efforts are
being made to put the whole thing in perspective.
It is a matter of fact that what has been done has
been done. Adams has no intention of reversing his
decision. Whether the attacks on him will cost him
his job still has not been determined. Some of the
people who make big contributions to the universi
ty have said they are withholding their money. But
it was revealed a couple of days ago that contribu
tions overall reached an all-time high recently.
Nobody can be a winner in this controversy.
Dooley showed a lot of class by stepping forward
and attempting to calm his supporters down.
We understand how they feel about Dooley. How
much they admire him. Their anger at the way
Adams handled the dismissal of Dooley. But the
University of Georgia is bigger than all of these
things. Everyone should step back and consider
what this is doing to the university and act in a
manner that will be in the best interest of the insti
tution.
Holding on to those summer nights
Now that summer solstice has
passed, I suppose it is time to
start getting ready for cold
weather.
It’s coming, I know it is, with
every passing day that grows
shorter.
Though Rick hooted with
laughter at this observation a
couple of nights ago during an
outside session at dusk I
“encouraged” him to share with
me, it cannot be denied.
Let me tell you I am a child of
summer and savor each and
every hot, humid Georgia day
we have.
Who noticed the beautiful
sunrises we had last week with
that giant orb rising from the
east full of reds and purples?
How many of you like to sit
outside during the evening
Civic duty: The forgotten responsibility
Editor:
The educators of our civics courses taught us
that the United States is a republic where sover
eignty rests in the citizens themselves. We creat
ed our government, picked our leaders, and
actively transformed public weal into public poli
cy. Furthermore, in our representative democra
cy, the majority is supposed to rule, but sadly, this
is not the case today.
Nowadays, only a minority of citizens actually
bothers to vote, and even fewer carefully follow
the activities of our government. For example, in
the last presidential election, only one-fourth of
all eligible voters chose our president, but we
must ask what does such a political situation
imply for the future? The answer seems to be a
government that seeks to promote the happiness
of only a minority of Americans.
This metamorphosis occurred by a simple polit
ical process. With only a small percentage of the
population remaining politically active, elected
officials need to satisfy only a small range of
desires. Therefore, to keep their position of
Rex Gambill
Managing Editor
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
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Emily Johnstone
Associate Editor
ejohnstone@evansnewspapers.com
hours and listen to the night
sounds so calming and different
in tempo from the sounds of
daytime full of hurry and bus
tle?
How did you and I get here?
I’ve thought about this many
times. I imagine that some of
you have, also. What it is: How
“chancey” was my ever being
here or anywhere on this Earth,
for that matter? Let me explain.
My Gray grandparents moved
here in 1918 from Hollywood,
Calif. My Grandfather Gray was
a cameraman at Universal
Studios and, at one time, owned
a bakery in Los Angeles.
Actually, these grandparents
went from California to
Tombstone, Ariz., where they
homesteaded for a period of
time and then they moved back
to California and ultimately to
Perry. My mother was born
here, but my father, Cohen
Walker, came here as an agricul
ture teacher. Daddy did his
practice teaching at Moultrie
and according to Mother, “he
liked Moultrie very much.”
Now, think about it. What if
Daddy had stayed in Moultrie,
or for that matter, had never
left Washington County, Ga.?
HUM HOT ABLE TO fBHj I TWIMk \r*WL>,,, //m
sadpana tapk, sucnv UP
Summer is a time you can
stand outside during a rain and
get soaking wet and enjoy it.
It is a time that can cause you
to laugh with delight at the tan
gle of green everywhere, espe
cially the wondrous cascades of
kudzu that creep along silently
but with lightning speed.
There’s nothing like fresh
tomato sandwiches drowned in
mayonnaise or peaches topped
with sugar and cream.
Best of all, it is a time to
watch the night fall around you
from a swing in your own back
yard, using a bare big toe to dig
into the dirt now and then to
keep the swing in motion.
• • •
In summer, as during the rest
of the year, it is a good idea to
power, politicians will pass as many laws as possi
ble to gratify just these few interests. Any good
that might come to the self-disenfranchised
American will be an unintentional byproduct or
simply a necessary ingredient to achieve the
greater good for the voters. We see this in legisla
tion today, where a disproportionate number of
bills favor financial or social minorities (both rich
and poor) rather than being equally beneficial to
the masses. Rarely do Republicans and
Democrats focus their attention on bills that
specifically favor the middle class (60 percent of
Americans).
Some citizens argue that voting does not make
a difference since special interests have gained
control of the government. If this is true, who is
to blame - the special interest groups? Of course
not. It is only natural that a group of people
would want to influence the government as much
as possible to serve their own needs.
Remember that we, the majority of Americans,
are also a special interest group, but we lost our
influence, not because the system was stacked
against us, but because we failed to assert control
LETTER TO THE BUTOH
MKm
Larry Walker
Columnist
lwalker@whgbc.com
Or, what if my Gray grandpar
ents had remained in California
or Arizona? Where would I be, if
anywhere, today, or at any
time? You probably have similar
situations in your life story.
Bill Bryson has written an
intriguing book entitled “A
Short History of Nearly
Everything.” I highly commend
his book to you. In it, he
keep an eye on the weather,
don’t you agree?
Those forecasters on the
Weather Channel are cool.
After watching a while, you
become familiar with the vari
ous meteorologists and they
become almost like family talk
ing to you as you sit in your liv
ing room learning about air cur
rents, fronts and how many
hurricanes may come to life this
year.
Have you noticed over the
past couple of years, many of
them obviously became new
moms?
Can you imagine sitting up all
night will a little one, then look
ing fresh as a flower the next
morning for a television stint?
Really, I would much rather
over our government through basic civic duty. We
have failed to stay informed on the issues, failed
to vote, and failed to attentively monitor the
activities of our representatives. However, we
cannot successfully excuse our failure by pointing
to the hectic modern lifestyle. After all, today’s
conveniences have provided us with more leisure
time and information tools to pursue such civil
activities. Still, despite the easy availability of
these instruments, we are doing a poor job com
pared to the citizens of yesteryear.
But I do not wish to simply carp at the status
quo, but to struggle for a positive goal. With the
government’s involvement in daily life at an all
time high, we must shake off our civic indolence
and again decree public policy to our government
officials rather than vice versa. Despite what
some may argue, we do have this power and
politicians will listen. Simply through suffrage,
we hold the power of the “pink slip” over our
politicians. We can hire and fire the politicians
who have failed to satisfy the needs of the mass
es. The power of the vote is indeed potent, and a
mqjority of votes can do much more than a major-
addresses my today subject
about a person’s personal
ancestry and says this: “. . .
Consider the fact that for 3.8
billion years, a period of time
older than the Earth’s moun
tains and rivers and oceans,
every one of your forebears on
both sides has been attractive
enough to find a mate, healthy
enough to reproduce, and suffi
ciently blessed by fate and cir
cumstances to live long enough
to do so. Not one of your perti
nent ancestors was squashed,
devoured, drowned, starved,
stranded, stuck fast, untimely
wounded, or otherwise deflected
from its life’s quest of delivering
a tiny charge of genetic materi
al to the right partner at the
right moment in order to per
petuate the only possible
sequence of hereditary combi
nations that could result - even
tually, astoundingly, and all too
briefly - in you.”
More about Bryson’s book. It
is currently on the “bestseller
watch these folks than any
actor or actress on television or
the big screen. With the excep
tion of Kramer or the old “Star
Trek” series.
• • •
Listen to this. In Scotland, a
chain of 10 hospitals recently
lifted a ban on smoking inside
the facilities.
Hospital officials said the ban
imposed four years ago was
causing too much trouble.
Apparently, instead of adher
ing to rules, patients and
employees alike were sneaking
cigarettes in places that raised
alarm over possible fires.
In one hospital, officials found
what they termed a “smoking
den” in a basement area filled
with old wooden crutches and
leaves.
ity of special interest dollars.
But we can do more than vote. Via e-mail, we
can freely contact our representatives to alert
them of our problems and opinions. We can also
invite our representatives to discuss their views
and goals in an open forum easily accessible to
the public. I beseech all state from at least
Houston County, such as the Honorable Larry
Walker and Gov. Sonny Perdue to please use the
HHJ often to thoroughly enlighten the public on
their political beliefs and activities and not to
simply repeat the empty buncombe we so often
hear. For the first 150 years of our republic, politi
cians such as Theodore Roosevelt and Joseph E.
Brown commonly partook in such activities to the
benefit of their constituents, and I ask our cur
rent officials to do the same. With more politi
cians freely discussing the issues, I’m sure more
citizens will again listen once they believe their
officials are actually fighting for beliefs rather
than Fighting for their party and the opportunity
to stay in office.
Robert Alan Hawk
Perry
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
list” for nonfiction books and,
in my opinion, deserves to be
there. I learned more from read
ing this book than I learned
from all of my school science
courses. Admittedly, I was a
poor science student even with
excellent teachers. What Bryson
does is take subjects like chem
istry, physics, geology, and
astronomy, and makes these
subjects understandable to
“poor science students,” like
me, which is a tall order. Again,
I highly recommend this book
to you.
But, back to the point I am
trying to make. Astoundingly, I
made it. And, you did, too. We
are here despite incredible odds
that we would not be and
should not be. You’ve got to
believe that there is something
higher and more powerful
involved, don’t you? And, I do,
too. God bless us in our finite
understanding and wisdom.
For those who ask for an
update on our two felines, Oscar
and Pumpkin (aka Trash
Truck), they are as naughty as
ever.
Oscar just chewed the cord for
a cell phone charger in half.
Pumpkin is not quite as mis
chievous, he does not seem to
like this hot weather.
He spends a lot of time with
his face either in front of or on
top of an air conditioning vent.
• • o
Do not forget to visit the
Perry Farmer’s Market tomor
row in downtown Perry on
Commerce Street!
Kudos (not kudzu) to Tish
Mims, who has worked tireless
ly this summer to make the
market a success.