Newspaper Page Text
SUNDAY, APRIL 4, 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
Keeping The Big Trucks Out
Residents of Eagle Springs subdivision in
Centerville are upset because heavy trucks are
ruining their streets.
They have reason to be unhappy. Riding
through the subdivision one is impressed by
the condition of some of the streets, even
though they are only a few years old.
The subdivision, though a decade old, still is
growing. Several new homes are under con
struction at any time.
Eagle Springs residents have called on Mayor
Ronnie Brand and Centerville’s council to help
them.
Construction entrances, which apparently
have been closed, will be reopened, Brand said.
They were closed allegedly because they were
not up to code. They must be before being
reopened.
No doubt about it, builders must be able to
get to their construction sites. And materials
must be delivered. It seems that city officials,
working with residents of the area, are on
track to solve the problem.
Where To Attack Drug Trade
A former undercover narcotics agent told a
group of local business owners and HODAC
officials something that most of us have known
for years but cannot prove. He said that it’s
impossible to stop drugs from coming into this
country.
He pointed out that the United States has
spent S2BO billion dollars since 1980 on its war
against illegal drugs. The war has been an apa
thetic failure. Drugs come in from many
sources to meet the demand ... and then some.
Chuck Wade, the narcotics agent, said that
the only way to win the drug war is to attack
demand, not supply.
He suggested prevention, treatment and edu
cation as much more effective weapons than
those being used in foreign countries in a futile
attempt to interrupt the supply of drugs.
The drug problem is a blight on our country.
Whether it ever can be overcome is debatable.
But we cannot afford to give up hope or quit
trying.
HOW TO SUBMIT LfTTBIS
We encourage readers to submit letters to the editor. Letters
should not exceed 250 words and must include the wnter's
name, address and telephone number. All letters printed in
The Home Journal will appear with the wnter's name and
hometown - we do not publish anonymous letters. The news
paper reserves the right to edit or reject letters for reasons of
grammar, punctuation, taste and brevity. Letter wnters are
asked to submit no more than one letter per person per week.
We cannot guarantee that a letter will be printed 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 verify
the author of each letter.
There are three ways to submit a letter to the (^
editor: E-mail it to
hhj@evansnewspapers.com, mail it to The lln
Houston Home Journal at PO. Box 1910, '
Perry, GA 31069, or drop it off at one of our '
two convenient locations - 1210 Lj
Washington St. in Perry, or 2060 Watson J 1
Blvd. in Warner Robins - between 8 am. u
News ancle alarms 7-year-oM
Editor:
My name is Baylee Culverhouse. I am 7
years old, and I think it is bad to drag dogs
behind our cars. I was looking in the paper
one day and saw a subject in the paper that
said “Dog dragged by car.”
I immediately threw the paper down and
told my parents. I was lying in my bed one
night thinking about dogß getting dragged
by cars, and how dogs are very loyal too. I
noticed that dogs have feelingß too. We’re
not the only ones. What if you were a dog
and somebody dragged you? You would feel
bad, and wonder what you did. Sometimes
dogs do bad things like try to bite us, but we
can’t kill them for that. So I expect no ads in
the paper that say “Dog killed by car.”
Baylee Alyse Culverhouse
Warner Robins
Houston County's changing political scone
IT IS INTERESTING to
see the changes going in the
local political scene as
Houston County becomes
more and more a Republican
stronghold.
This is the second resur
gence of the Republican
party in our county and this
time it appears to be here to
stay.
Longtime residents will
remember that Republicans
made a splash in the early
19708. There was a surge of
conservatism in Houston
County and some prominent
Democrats found it judi
cious to run as Republicans
that year. Former County
Commissioner Dr. VW.
McEver Jr. and Sheriff
Cullen Talton were the most
notable.
As time passed and the
Republican uprising faded
both Dr. McEver and Sheriff
Talton went back to their
roots in the Democratic
Party.
And for many years it
appeared that a county
which liked Republican
presidential candidates was
not ripe for Republican can
didates to be successful on
the local level.
• • •
THINGS HAVE changed.
It was noteworthy that
lime out: Where'll I put that writing implement?
“And this is the room
where the future pours into
the past via the pinch of the
now. ”
- Terry Pratchett,
“Reaper Man ”
I go through several dozen
pens a year.
That may sound pretty
normal for a writer, but so
very few of mine ever stay in
my possession long enough
to die a natural death.
I can’t remember the last
time a pen ran out on me.
I never keep one long
enough for that.
Oh, no.
I lose them.
Which is odd because, gen
erally speaking. I’m not one
for losing things.
I carried the same wallet
for over a decade. Never lost
it.
I may occasionally put my
Attack on writer unwarranted
Editor:
I once attended all the Warner Robins
High School football games. Some of my
dear friends attended all the games played
by the Northside Eagles. We had a friendly
feud and disagreed which football team was
the best even after the game had been
played and the winner determined. So I
believe I can disagree with someone and still
respect them and call them a friend.
I have friends who are Republicans and
those who are Democrats. None of us
believe that we are unpatriotic because we
share different political ideas. Nor do we
believe that the principals in an administra
tion are simple minded, weak on national
defense issues, or have criminal intentions
simply because they are members of anoth-
“You're late? ...Hey, this time change is hard on a lot of us!"
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
' JRH|
|
Foy Evans
Columnist
foyevans 19€6cox .net
when Democratic County
Commissioner Tom
McMichael ran for re-elec
tion four years ago he
switched parties and became
a poster politico for the
Republicans.
The political scenario has
changed so much in the past
four years that it is hard to
believe that it has happened
so suddenly.
Now it appears that to
play safe most incumbent
officeholders find it wise to
switch parties.
It isn’t as if they have to
compromise principles or
political philosophies.
On the local level you find
very little difference
between most of the mem-
* if
mt
Jon Suggs
Staff Writer
j 'UKgafccvansnc wspapcrs.c om
I . I
keys somewhere and have to
wander uround until 1 come
back to them, but they've
never been really lost.
But pens?
I can keep one for about a
week, maybe.
Which is why the two real
ly spiffv, gift-set style pens I
own sit at home, in a drawer.
er political party.
I know some people who went to war and
won a bunch of medals. I also know some
who didn’t win any medals. Some of these
wonderful people are Republicans and some
are Democrats. I also know some people who
for a variety of reasons didn’t serve in the
military but are truly solid Americans. They,
too, subscribe to either the Democratic or
Republican lines of thinking. And, all these
folks are 100 percent American regardless of
their political affiliation or leanings.
I don’t know Mr. Pearsall but have read
some of hiß letters. Some of them I have
agreed with and some of them I forgot as
soon as I read them. A Mr. Russ Norris in
Wednesday’s HHJ took him to task for some
reason. From Mr. Norris’ letter I was not
quite Bure why unless it was simply because
Mr. Pearsall is a Democrat who has said
bers of both political parties.
The big difference is when it
comes to supporting the
national party candidates.
There is stark contrast
between the national parties
and their liberal versus con
servative positions.
A case could be made that
local officeholders should be
participating in nonpartisan
elections. Sheriff Talton has
been out front on the state
level for years seeking leg
islative approval for electing
sheriffs as nonpartisans.
There is strong support,
though not enough yet for
legislative action, to remove
superior court and state
court judges from having to
wear a party label. Other
constitutional offices could,
reasonably, be nonpartisan,
too.
• • •
THE REPUBLICAN
cause gained momentum in
Houston County with elec
tion of Sonny Perdue, a
native son, as the first
Republican governor in 130
years. His election seemed
to solidify the Republican
hold on our county.
It would be premature to
write off the Democrats in
Houston County. There are
many of them. And they are
dedicated. They also are
Better unused than away
into the wild.
And I’m not so much
alone in this “keep most
things, lose one kind” phe
nomenon.
One of my editors? She
has the same problem with
sunglasses.
My younger sister’s fiance
can’t keep up with lighters.
(But maybe that repre
sents a subliminal desire to
stop smoking?)
My friend the paginator
can’t keep gum around.
OK, that probably has less
to do with losing than with
patty theft by certain mem
bers of the news staff I
won’t name.
(But one of them is pic
tured nearby.)
Another friend has been
known to semi-regularly
misplace paychecks.
Ack.
some unflattering things about Mr. G.W.
Bush or some member of his administra
tion.
There are a lot of people around here who
can remember when it was all right to be a
Democrat. Republicans were the rich folks
who only lived in Atlanta or those that were
born and raised in Fannin County. But times
changed, and I guess political philosophies
did too. However, I do not think that simply
because one American subscribes to one
political party line more than they do
another that it should give anyone any rea
son for such an attack as Mr. Norris tried to
lay upon Mr. Pearsall.
I’ll bet Mr. Pearsall will write more letters
if he so feels the urge. Whether I agree with
him or not, 1 certainly hope he will.
Dawyn E. Borders
Warner Robins
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
willing to work for their
party.
However, as elections
approach this fall I am of the
opinion that incumbents
holding county offices will
find it practical politics to
change their ties to the
Republican Party unless
they are in the fortunate
position of running unop
posed.
That is pure reality in
Houston County.
Many of us like to say we
don’t vote straight party
line. We vote for the candi
date. In some years past
that was more true than it is
today. We used to know the
candidates personally and
we didn’t care whether they
were Democrats or
Republicans.
Today Houston County’s
voter rolls are loaded with
people who are relative new
comers and do not even
know the names of present
officeholders, which leads
me to believe they will vote
party instead of individuals.
This isn’t the same old
Houston County we knew a
few years ago. And politi
cians, above all other people,
are realists.
I guess I can live with los
ing pens.
There are worse things to
go-
Time, for instance.
Tonight, I’m losing an
hour.
Well, that’s nothing spe
cial, really.
So are the rest of us in this
mixed-up little Daylight
Savings Time part of the
world.
Spring forward!
Sleepily.
It just serves as a nice
marker that we’re losing the
night.
Which happens, anyway,
however we mark the time.
Slowly, there’s just less
there.
And looking for the night
becomes like digging
through my desk drawer for
pens.
It was full just a while ago.