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SUNDAY, JANUARY 11, 2004
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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
Houston Rises To Top
Another indication that Houston County
is now one of the elite counties in Georgia
was the announcement by the Georgia
Department of Community Affairs that it
is now considered a Tier 4 county.
Counties are rated economically from
Tier 1 to 4, with 4 being the top tier in the
state’s economic ladder. Only one other
county below the so-called “gnat” line
qualifies as a Tier 4. That is Lee County
just north of Albany.
Of 159 counties in Georgia only 18 are
ranked among the elite. Most of them are
near Atlanta. Bibb County (Macon) is only
a Tier 2 county based on poverty numbers,
economic viability and income.
Houston County has not only overtaken
Bibb County economically but is leaving
our neighbor to the north in our dust.
Houston County no longer is considered
economically “challenged.” Houston no
longer is eligible for some state programs
that provide financial assistance to chal
lenged counties. On the other hand, this
reflects the fact that Houston County is an
economic dynamo.
The designation gives the Houston
County Development Authority one more
tool when it comes to selling prospective
businesses and industries on locating
here. Companies like to locate where they
know the economy is booming and new
comers are welcome.
We’re proud of our county. We’re proud
of the organizations and individuals whose
efforts have brought Houston County to
the pinnacle to share this honor with a
limited number of progressive Georgia
counties.
Tempest in a teapot, op crock ol you-know-what?
How many lawyers does it
take to draft an illegal
school board policy?
Two, if you’re talking
about the Houston County
Board of Education.
Early this week, details
surfaced about a proposed
revision to school board pol
icy BH, which establishes a
code of ethics for the board.
The revision, drafted by
board attorney Tom
Calhoun and concocted by
Pamela Greenway - vice
chairwoman of the Board of
Education and an attorney
herself - is designed to add
teeth to the previous policy.
Under the new policy,
board members would be
able to “censure or repri
mand the board member
who violates the code of
ethics,” and to disavow
“improper acts or state
ments” by an individual
board member.
Furthermore, the proposal
would grant the board the
power “to suspend or
remove a board member,”
and to “restrict or prohibit a
j|3| 11 I
Rex Gambill
Managing Editor
rKiimblll@i'v:insnc'wsp;tpcr».com
board member from partici
pating in a particular item
of business.”
Greenway said the revi
sion would empower the
board to enforce the ethics
policy. At least one other
board member, Griff
Clements, supports the poli
cy as written. It's hard to
say how the others on the
board might have voted if
the local news media hud
not started asking questions
about the policy.
If they disagree, just kick them out?
A PROPOSAL to adopt a
stricter ethics code for the
Houston County Board of
Education sounds rather
extreme, to say the least.
Suggesting that members
of the board be given the
power to remove a member
who disagrees with the
majority seems to be going
too far and, if it should pass,
would be a slap in the face of
voters who elected the mem
ber to the office.
Actually, in my opinion,
any rule containing that
power would be shot down
by the courts as unconstitu
tional.
Voters elect board mem
bers. Voters can fire them in
the next election if they
want to. But some board
members having authority
to fire members they disap
prove of seems wacky.
Karen Mertens says that
she is the target. Maybe she
is. She did upset other board
members when she wrote a
letter criticizing the way
they hired Superintendent
Danny Carpenter.
She had a right to disagree
with other board members,
all of whom voted to hire
Carpenter, which, inciden
tally, was a very good move.
Keeping husbands, ourselves, happy
Wake up ladies. It's not all
about you.
That could be the subtitle
of über-radio talk show host
Dr. Laura Schlessinger's
newest book, "The Proper
Care and Feeding of
Husbands." (Harper
Collins,)
"Dr. Laura" says that men
are fairly simple creatures.
So it doesn't take a whole lot
to keep most husbands, and
by extension most homes,
happy. Here are the basics:
respect, gratitude, food, sex,
some space for "guy time" -
and don't nag.
As "Dr. Laura" writes that
one male listener to her
show told her, "A good man
is hard to find, not hard to
keep."
This may be the provoca
tive, controversial talk show
host's most provocative, con
troversial book yet - but
she's absolutely right.
For many troubled mar
riages, here’s a big part of
the problerp, says Dr. Laura:
If we recognize that men
and women are different at
all, we think it's that women
are so civilized, and men are
just brutes.
I call it the "man bad,
woman good" view of the
world. If only men were
more like women, how much
better the world would be,
right?
Wrong. Men communicate
differently. If they don't
break down with emotion
when we think they should,
it doesn't mean they're cave
men. It often means they
are just showing some
restraint. Women regularly
Well, that’s not entirely
true. Board member Karen
Mertens says she’s the one
they’re after, and is against
the proposal. On numerous
occasions, Mertens has cast
the only “no” vote, and has
gone to the trouble of
explaining her votes in
lengthy letters printed iri a
local shopper. Apparently
there are those on the board
who would prefer Mertens
didn’t, especially after she
criticized the way the board
hired a new superintendent.
Evidently, Greenway, the
self-described “attack rab
bit,” got her fur ruffled.
Did Mertenß violate the
code of ethics by writing
about closed-door discus
sions? That’s a question of
state law. I do know Karen
Mertens well enough that
I'd be shocked to learn she
knowingly violated any law
or policy.
There probably should,
however, be some means of
reprimand for members who
violate the ethics code.
But that’s where you draw
Foy Evans
Columnist
foyevansl 9@cox.net
I can understand other
board members being vexed
when Mertens aired dirty
linen in public. I always
have felt that elected offi
cials should resolve their dif
ferences behind closed
doors, if possible.
Mertens’ protest via the
printed word changed noth
ing. But it did cast a shadow
over the board. It served no
good purpose, though I
agree she had a right to do
what she did. The wisdom of
doing it this way is another
thing.
Most elected bodies, at all
levels of government, seem
to have one member who is
out of step with the majority.
Bp
Betsy Hart
Columnist
Scripps Howard News Service
complain on radio shows
like Dr. Laura's, on daytime
talk shows, in magazines
and so on that men are so
"insensitive." This is consis
tently met with nods of
knowing, superior, agree
ment from other women.
Now, imagine what would
happen if one were to argue
that sometimes women are
overly sensitive?
Well, "Dr. Laura" has made
just that politically incorrect
observation. But more to the
point, she says our differ
ences balance each other in
a marriage - if we let them.
Let's face it. We wives say
we like the sensitive stuff -
until there's a mysterious
bump in the house in the
middle of the night and then
we just know it's our hus
band's job to go find out
what it is.
Anyway, too many women
- thanks to the feminist
movement _ have come to
believe that their husbands
should be their total emo
tional support system. But,
the line.
Elected officials on the
board do not need the power
to gang up on fellow mem
bers just because they dis
agree.
School board members
who favor such a measure
need to step back and imag
ine, for just a minute, that
this is one policy that could
bite them in the butt.
What if it were you, Griff
Clements, the others want
ed to suspend?
And while much attention
has been paid to the removal
portion of the proposal, let
us not forget the equally
offensive passage that would
allow the board to keep a
member from discussing or
voting on a certain matter.
I don’t think that passes
legal muster either. If it did,
then Warner Robins City
Councilman Terry Horton
might have been able to dis
allow Steve Smith and Tom
Simms from voting Monday
on who would be mayor pro
tern for 2004, and Matt
Stone would not have gotten
Fellow members should not
have the power to send them
packing. And I doubt they
ever will.
• • •
TAXPAYERS in Houston
County, as well as most
counties in Georgia, may be
getting some bad news in
the next year. The state is
cutting back on money it
sends to local school dis
tricts. But the demands
being made on local school
boards to educate are grow
ing, not diminishing. So
where does the money come
from to make up the short
fall that will be created
when the state cuts back
more than it has already?
One place, of course. Local
taxpayers will be called on
to cough up more money.
And, as is the case in
Houston County, if the
school board has reached its
limit under the tax cap there
could be a real crisis. A court
mandate might even be used
to come to the rescue. We’ll
just have to wait and see
how serious the problem
becomes.
• • •
SEN. ZELL Miller stirred
political talk among
Democrats last week when
maybe they're just not
equipped to be. So what?
What happened to those
great networks of women
friends who used to provide
a profound and necessary
emotional outlet for the
women of our mothers' and
grandmothers' generations?
Today these groups are
chick cliques that typically
get together to complain
about, well, how the men in
their lives are insensitive.
It's no accident that today
two-thirds of all divorces are
initiated by women. Yes
there are intolerable, phi
landering, substance-addict
ed or abusive husbands out
there. No one is suggesting
putting up with such things.
And yes, there are many
husbands who just need to
put more effort into being
good husbands.
But I have seen women
feel despondent and ill-used
because their spouses can't
read their minds, or respond
to every emotional need or
important feeling.
Yet too many of these
women don't stop to wonder
- what does he need? In fact,
we've become such a femi
nized society, it's almost ver
boten to ask, "How can I find
out what my man's needs
are, and better meet them?"
Somehow, say the feminists,
that's oppressive.
But in her new book, Dr.
Laura uses lots of anecdotes
and a breezy style and
delves into what makes a
man tick. Most importantly,
she says if we realize a good
man's needs are simple and
the job.
Now, Green way says she
and Calhoun are tinkering
with the proposal because
“it’s a legal question”
whether the board members
can kick each other off.
That’s her sheepish way of
conceding the point to the
Georgia School Boards
Association and the state
attorney general, both of
whom have indicated it’s
illegal.
Instead, Green way’s look
ing at changing the policy to
bar an individual board
member from attending
closed-door executive ses
sions. I’m no attorney, but
that sounds like hogwash,
too.
And fVankly, the whole
mess sickens me.
I have a real problem with
school board members for
whom power plays are more
important than the wishes
of their constituents or, dare
I say, the needs of the chil
dren.
Did the voters ask for
this? Last time I looked, a
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
he predicted that A 1
Sharpton will receive more
votes in Georgia than candi
dates John Kerry, John
Edwards or Joe Lieberman
in the Democratic Primary.
He pointed out that
Sharpton is a much better
candidate than Jesse
Jackson was and, in
Georgia, Jackson received
more than 95 percent of the
black vote when he was a
candidate for the
Democratic nomination.
Incidentally, 5 percent of the
black vote is all that
President George Bush and
Gov. Sonny Perdue can
expect to get the next time
they face the voters, regard
less of how much effort they
put into changing things.
• • •
HAVE YOU driven at
night on Warner Robins’
main thoroughfares
Watson Boulevard and
Russell Parkway - in the
rain? It is a harrowing expe
rience. The lane stripes,
which are barely discemable
in the daytime, just don’t
seem to be visible at night
and in the rain. Wouldn’t it
be nice if reflective tape or
paint was used to identify
the lanes?
are willing to do what we
can to meet them, guess
what? That makes him more
devoted to us and to meeting
our needs. She calls it
n • _ »t
magic.
What, exactly, is so oppres
sive about that?
Maybe the "magic" doesn't
always work. But I'm fortu
nate to know many women
who "get it." I recently spent
a long weekend with eight or
so such high school friends,
most of whom have been
married for a dozen or more
years. Smart, accomplished
women who don't think
their marriages are "all
about them."
I noticed (again) how posi
tively these women spoke of
their husbands "behind
their backs." These guys
aren't perfect, whatever that
means. But these men are
appreciated. These are
happy marriages, which I
can safely say will last a life
time.
OK, true confession: I
have not followed "Dr.
Laura's" advice to the letter,
shall we say, but after
almost 17 years of marriage
(I was married when I was
12) my husband remarks
that I'm "easier to be mar
ried to" than he thought I
would be at the beginning.
Okay, so he's a funny guy.
I like that about him. I
think I'll keep him.
Betsy Hart, a frequent
commentator on CNN and
the Fox News Channel, can
be reached by e-mail at:
mailtohart@aol.com.
lot of folks in this county
were wringing their hands
about the county’s various
school rezoning proposals,
and where their children
would be attending school in
the future. Most people
probably expect the school
board members to be focus
ing on this one issue they
consider of utmost impor
tance.
Those on the board wast
ing time on needless inter
nal policy changes would be
wise to remember that.
Somewhere along the way,
somebody forgot what serv
ing on the school board is
supposed to be about. So for
those who aren’t sure, let
me spell it out.
It’s not about position
papers and policy docu
ments.
It’s not about your ego
and your influence.
It’s not about “fiscal
responsibility.”
It’s about the kids, period.
And I don’t see the kids
anywhere in this picture.