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♦ WEEKEND, JULY 26-28, 2003
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OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
President,
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans Rex Gambill
Vice President Managing Editor
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
They Shouldn't Get Away With It
Many Americans, especially the elderly, are
saving large sums of money by purchasing their
prescription drugs in Canada.
At first, when it was learned that these drugs
could be purchased so much cheaper in Canada
than in the United States, only people living
near the Canadian border took advantage of
this way to save money.
Then some drug companies in Canada made it
easy to purchase by mail and Americans all over
the country began saving money on their pre
scriptions drugs.
The business was so good that in recent
months store fronts have been opened up in
major cities where patients can take their pre
scriptions to be filled in Canada.
For many seniors, living on small incomes,
this has been a blessing.
The big drug companies don’t like it. They are
spending millions of dollars on a campaign to
persuade members of Congress to outlaw pur
chase of prescription drugs in Canada by
Americans. They contend, falsely, that it is
unsafe.
While we like to do business locally and to talk
to our pharmacist face to face, we do not believe
there should be a law protecting the big drug
companies.
Seniors who feel the need to purchase pre
scription drugs in Canada should have the right
to do so.
Seniors and others who prefer dealing with a
pharmacist they know and trust should be able
to do so, likewise.
In our view, freedom of choice is the real issue
here and drug companies and their highly paid
lobbyists should not be able to deprive anyone
of this freedom.
HOW TO SUBMIT LETTERS
We encourage readers to submit letters to the editor.
Letters should not exceed 250 words and must include the
writer’s name, address and telephone number. All letters
printed in The Home Journal will appear with the writer’s
name and hometown - we do not publish anonymous letters.
The newspaper reserves the right to edit or reject letters for
reasons of grammar, punctuation, taste and brevity. Letter
writers are asked to submit no more than one letter per per
son per week. We cannot guarantee that a letter will be print
ed on a specific date.
The Home Journal prefers that letters be typed. Letters to
the editor are published in the order they are received _
as space permits. A Journal employee will call to /h£>
verify the author of each letter. mP
There are three ways to submit letters to fCj s?
the editor: E-mail them to hhj(a)evansnews- 7 Sc.'s?
papers.com, mail it to The Houston Home /
Journal at PO. Box 1910, Perry, GA 31069, or / /
drop it off at one of our two convenient loca- Lj
tions - 1210 Washington St. in Perry, or 2060 jj
Watson Blvd. in Warner Robins - between 8 / /
a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. 17 r 'L
Reader dislikes column
about tipping
Editor:
After reading an editorial in
the July 23 edition about tip
ping, I had to respond. I don’t
believe your paper should allow
anyone to pick out certain
groups of people as examples of
bad tippers. I especially didn’t
like her picking out “older peo
ple and church-going people,”
and how does she know they are
church-going people? Sounds
like a slam to me and many
other people. I enjoy the paper
very much, but some of the edi
torials lately leave a lot to be
desired.
Royce Gee
Warner Robins
Responding to
Farquhar's letter
Editor:
Thank you for the letter pub
lished in the July 22 edition of
the HHJ from reader Bob
Farquhar regarding Luci
Joullian’s column on “Why pick
on gay people?” As a former let
ter writer with an opposing
view to Mr. Farquhar’s, I want
ed to respond to some of his
thought-provoking,' and obvi
ously insightful, comments.
Mr. Farquhar’s statement about
Christian fundamentalists hav
ing lost sight of Jesus Christ’s
(Jesus of Nazareth) basic teach
ings, and having become bigots
and intolerant, are extremely
hypocritical. It is a widespread
practice today for liberal, left
wing zealots to say that because
right-wing “conspirators” do
not agree with the liberal point
of view that the right-wingers
must be “intolerant.” Isn’t it
then intolerance on the part of
the liberals to not agree, or to
even not want to allow, the
right-wing their own opinion? Is
it logical to say that you are not
tolerant of someone just
because we do not agree? The
old joke plays in here: “I am
Groveling Democrats eliminated themselves
ARE YOU old enough to
remember when men’s suits
came with two pairs of
trousers?
• • •
THIS IS something I heard
last week. The father of a
teenager said to his father, “Did
I ever apologize to you for the
way I acted when I was a
teenager?”
• • •
I SAW something I never
thought I would see last week.
Three Democratic presidential
hopefuls - Dick Gephardt,
Dennis Kucinich and Joe
Lieberman - were groveling
before the NAACR begging
their forgiveness for not show
ing up at their convention earli
er in the week. Can you imagine
any of the three having enough
backbone to stand up to terror
ists who want to destroy our
country? Their actions last
week, for all practical purposes,
eliminated them as serious con
tenders to become the
Democratic nominee.
• • •
SCHOOL teachers, in my
opinion, are the most unappre
Satisfied sitting silently savoring sunset
“Obsessed by a fairy tale, we
spend our lives searching for a
magic door and a lost kingdom
of peace. ”
- Eugene O’Neill,
More Stately Mansions
It had not been a long day so
much as a difficult one.
About two hours worth of
tromping through Perry’s best
imitation of a jungle, following
two law enforcement officers
following an animal control offi
cer following a dog following a
suspect, all in the midday heat,
wasn’t what I had planned.
It being midday, I had planned
lunch.
But then when one of your
editors says, “There’s a chase,
go chase it,” well, you chase it.
(And when she says, “It’ll be
fun!” well, you smile and pre
tend, eh?)
Through the heat and the
brambles and etc.
And while I was mostly not
dressed for the occasion - torn
pants, I lament thee - I did at
least have a floppy sun hat.
A silly floppy sun hat.
My fashion consultant coun
seled against it, but it was $5,
and I figure everyone needs at
least one really silly hat.
If nothing else, I could wear it
to the Weird A 1 concert coming
up in August, in Valdosta.
(Valdosta, for those of you
unfamiliar, is a minor city locat
ed along the equator. While it
may be reached in Georgia by
driving a few hours south along
1-75, this is a quirk of space
time, not a measure of actual
geography. It is, in short, a place
you really need a sun hat - flop
py, silly or otherwise.)
After the search, and follow
ing my admiration of the offi
cers involved - who were, unlike
me, not giving the impression
they were ready to fall the hell
over - I picked up where I’d left
off.
Lunch.
Then I went home and fell the
hell over.
I don’t, as a rule, nap.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
intolerant of your intolerance.”
It’s a good way to try to make
someone think that their view
must be wrong, but when you
look at it intelligently and logi
cally it does not make any rea
sonable sense.
Mr.Farquhar’s “fear factor”
assumption relies on the belief
that “because you do not agree
you must be afraid of some
thing” is a homosexual agenda
tactic used to quiet an opposing
view to the homosexual
lifestyle. My only feelings
towards those in homosexual
lifestyles is far from fear, it is
pure sadness - for them being
so deceived into thinking that
what they are doing is OK. It is
not even that they hurt the soci
ety, but that they are harming
themselves more than anything.
Homosexuals have a much high
er incidence of suicide, alco
holism and substance abuse - is
this because they are so secure
and happy with their lifestyles?
I think not. He also states that
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Foy Evans
Editor Emeritus
foyevans 19@cox.net
ciated people in the world. God
bless them. I wouldn’t have
their job for 10 times what we
pay them.
• • •
IF YOU thought traffic south
of Warner Robins could get no
worse, you overlooked the fact
Houston Lake Road could be
closed at Feagin Mill Road for
several days.
• • •
THE TERRIBLE thunder
storms of recent days remind
me of how dangerous lightning
Jon Suggs
Staff Writer
jsuggS@evansnewspapers.com
Napping messes with my
sleep patterns, which are pretty
odd to begin with, most of the
time.
So when I woke up later that
evening, I knew well that I
would not get to sleep again
until the wee hours of the morn
ing, if at all.
I was still tired, yet restless.
Time for a drive.
I’m still learning my way
around hereabouts. Mostly, this
consists of wandering until I’m
lost, then continuing to wander
until I’ve found my way again.
he does not see rampant
promiscuity in the gay commu
nity; so would this explain the
higher rate of AIDS in homosex
ual men than in any other social
group in the United States? The
studies and statistics say a lot
for what is true, and obviously
what is not.
I find it alarming that Mr.
Farquhar has lumped all
Christian fundamentalists as an
institution of intolerance or big
otry. Has Mr. Farquhar even
met all Christian fundamental
ists? He is making the same
errors that he says others are
supposedly making by lumping
all homosexuals into one group
about their relationship pat
terns, as well as judging
Christians on their beliefs just
because they do not coincide
with his point of view.
In response to his statements
that his LGBT (lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender)
friends work, pay taxes, main
tain homes, raise children in
can be. Something like 40 years
ago this month lightning struck
several golfers at Sandy Run
Golf Course (now Warner
Robins International), killing
two and seriously injuring sev
eral others.
• • •
IF IRAQ doesn’t become
President George W. Bush’s
Vietnam he will be a very lucky
man.
• • •
CARL PETERMAN and his
wife observed their 60th wed
ding anniversary recently. Carl
and his brother Bernard
befriended me more than 50
years ago when I really needed a
friend. I’ll never forget.
• • •
I ATTENDED the first five
years of school in a three-room
schoolhouse. Three teachers.
No principal. No teacher aides.
Somehow we learned a lot.
• • •
I’M THRILLED when I see
hometown boys grow up to
become successful in business
and the professions. Some of
them delivered newspapers for
me when I first started out in
This works, after a fashion.
But this night, as I’m just
heading out of Perry, I pass my
“chase ’em” editor.
Among the HHJ news staff,
we’ve got these spiffy little two
way radios. They’re great for
keeping in touch - telling one
another about chases, for exam
ple - and they have other uses
as well.
< chirp-chirp > “Whatcha
doing?”
<chirp-chirp> “Out for a
drive.” ’
<chirp-chirp> “If you want
to see a pretty sunset, go out to
»
Etc.
Now, once today I’ve trusted
this person - “It’ll be fun!” -
and I’m wondering whether it’s
wise to do so again.
But I like sunsets, too.
Sunsets argue that, if there is
one, God is an artist.
Facing a daily challenge, a
rather firm deadline, the sky
must be painted.
Are evening storms and over
cast days the equivalent of a
tantrum - a night where all
goes wrong, and the paint get
thrown across the room?
nurturing environments, etc.,
etc., my question is how do they
physically have children? If
homosexuality is such a natural,
if misunderstood, occurrence,
then why can’t they reproduce?
I mean the last time I checked
two men could not physically
produce a child, nor could two
women. In order to have a child
they have to either take part in
the social practice that they
themselves do not want to fol
low, or adopt from heterosexual
mates, right? At last check, it
does take an ovum from a
female and a sperm from a male
to produce offspring in most
forms of life, human or other
wise.
Mr. Farquhar was right to say
that people should follow the
scripture “Do unto others...,”
but correlating this with the sin
of homosexuality would be tak
ing the scripture out of the con
text with which it is written. If
we want to look at the Bible for
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
business. Now they’re about 60,
more or less, and the backbone
of the community that seems to
be dominated by absentee own
ers. Someday I’d like to write a
book about them.
• • •
EXPANSION of Houston
Medical Center with a new $7.5
million ambulatory surgery cen
ter should put to rest for the
present rumors and speculation
that it will be replaced with a
facility near the intersection of
Ga. 96 and Houston Lake
Boulevard.
• • •
MANY PEOPLE in Warner
Robins like to watch city council
meetings on the public channel.
Cox Cable should be ashamed of
the terrible picture transmitted
from recent meetings. The
sound was good, though, and it
was possible to keep up with
what was going on if you closed
your eyes and pretended you
were listening to a radio.
Incidentally, last week’s meet
ing was most interesting.
I can relate - staring at the
shreds of a sheaf of pages that
might, if the term were applied
loosely, have been a short story
- but sometimes it all comes
together: the clouds, the slight
wind, the drift into night.
And, rarely, this art know the
right audience.
This night I sit, on the advice
of this coworker and friend, at a
local vantage point, watching
this display, while putting away
the trifles and trials of the day,
recollecting a better mindset,
finding the voice again.
So much of art is just knowing
where to sit and when, being
receptive, opening more than
eyes to the world writ large
about us.
The sun slides out of sight,
taking care not to brush too
closely to any clouds, to make as
few marks as possible - a subtle
sunset:
sky is blue,
deepening,
buzz of crickets
increases -
fades into history,
done
spent
remembered.
reference to homosexuality you
will not be deceived into believ
ing that it was embraced at any
time, in the Old Testament or
the New. God Himself destroyed
Sodom and Gomorra for the
perversion of the sin. And it is
stated quite simply, in easy-to
understand wording, in Romans
1:26-27 that homosexuality
(stated plainly as man to man,
or woman to woman) is a vile
passion, which is shameful and
that they are in error, receiving
the penalty that is due. That
doesn’t leave a lot of room for
question in my mind. But
maybe I am just one of those
simplistic, narrow-minded peo
ple.
In conclusion, my Mother also
had a saying when I was grow
ing up, much like Mr.Farquhar’s
father, but it went like this:
“The world is going to Hell in a
handbasket.”
Kellie Day
Fort Valley