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♦ WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 2004
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OPINION 3ZI
Daniel F. Evans
President,
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans Rex Gambill
Vice President Managing Editor
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
Bigger Biroßment Not Better
At least three schools in Houston County
probably will have more than 2,000 stu
dents next year.
The large student bodies create prob
lems. Discipline is one of them. It is easier
to enforce discipline in smaller schools.
Superintendent Danny Carpenter and
members of the Houston County Board of
Education are getting ahead of the curve
by providing additional administrative
personnel where they will be needed
before any problems arise.
More, smaller schools are more expen
sive than larger ones. But educators con
tend, rightly, that smaller schools are bet
ter. Houston County’s school enrollment is
growing too fast to maintain smaller
enrollments in some of the schools.
There are so-called mega schools in coun
ties around Atlanta, with as many as 4,000
students in some of them. This is good for
football and other sports, because a larger
pool is available to choose from. But all
you need to do is read the Atlanta newspa
per to see problems that placing so many
students in one school can create to realize
it is a bad situation.
Fortunately, we will not face that situa
tion in Houston County. The school board
is building new schools as fast as money is
available and already has purchased or
optioned numerous sites around the coun
ty for more schools.
Despite inconveniences and criticism,
our county is in good shape to provide edu
cational opportunities for our children.
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A year later, Iraq's liberation pays dividends
Slightly over a year ago,
our American soldiers, with
British and other allies,
moved into action against
the forces of Saddam
Hussein. As we struggle
today to protect and nurture
democracy in Iraq, we
should take time to appreci
ate our soldiers’ incredible
successes in liberating Iraq.
The experts had predicted
a brutal, difficult campaign.
Several international organ
izations predicted heavy
military and civilian casual
ties, millions of refugees and
a long drawn-out
Stalingrad-like siege of
Baghdad.
Our troops, including
thousands deployed or sup
ported from several of
Georgia’s 13 military bases,
proved the pessimists
wrong. The regime fell after
only 20 days. The number of
Iraqi casualties was a frac
tion of the predictions.
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Saxby Chambliss
U.S. Senator
R-Georgia
American casualties were
far lower than predicted.
Instead of hordes of Iraqi
refugees fleeing the country,
Iraqis poured home. This
past month, the last of sev
eral United Nations camps
established to welcome, 1.8
million refugees from
Hussein’s Iraq was closed. It
was empty because the
thousands of refugees who
Shaking the family tree
With new baby Elizabeth
Ann’s arrival just seven
weeks away, the house has
fallen into a predictably
frenzied atmosphere as we
prepare for her grand
entrance. The two soon-to
be older siblings, Joseph and
Thomas, are learning all
they can about the strange
manner of creature called
“little sister” that’s about to
invade their lives. Grammy
is honing up on her “spoil
ing skills.”
Meanwhile wife Teresa is
taking “nesting” into high
gear; cleaning, dusting, and
oddly enough, planting. I
don’t know if it happens this
way with other expectant
mothers, but Teresa’s
maternal instinct gone wild
extends to our lawn. I find
this odd, since the baby
won’t be sleeping in a nicely
pruned bush, but I know
enough to keep my mouth
shut. As for me, I do what I
always do when a new
kinder is on the way ... I
rededicate my spare
moments to genealogy.
Actually, family history
has always been a hobby of
mine, but it always seems to
take a greater importance
when there’s a baby on the
way. Perhaps it’s the visible
reminder of the family line
marching another step into
the future that spurs me
into a renewed interest in
past generations.
Perhups it’s the desire to
be ready to answer the ques
tions “Who am I?" and
“Where do I come from?”
that Joseph, Thomas, and
Beth will eventually ask.
And perhaps its because
that's the way its always
been done in my family. One
Parry PO, Burke
deserve praise
Editor:
On April 1, 2004, two dun
gerous armed bank robbers
were sentenced in Federal
Court. David Antoine Luster
formerly lived there had
returned home.
Why would they return
home? They returned home
because of the achievements
of our soldiers in liberating
their nation. Coalition sol
diers freed Iraq from the
killing, raping and oppres
sion of Saddam, his family,
apd his cronies. We freed
Iraqi children from
Saddam's jails. We destroyed
the regime which filled over
1,000 mass graves with the
bodies of over 300,000 Iraqi
victims. We freed Iraqis
from the fear that an unfor
tunate slip of the tongue
could land a man or woman
in a prison, torture chamber
or rape room.
Our troops gave Iraqis a
chance to dream about a
future.
We are helping them to
build that future Despite a
rocky start, Iraqi electricity
. —7
» as
Joe Bishop
Columnist
)oe@wnn(i.mgacoxmatl.com
of my earliest memories is of
my mother telling stories
about my early ancestors
who came to Georgia from
South Carolina in the 17405.
And, as far as I can tell, I’m
not alone. Reverence for
family history is a hallmark
of Southern tradition.
A truly Southern pedigree
is a very splendid thing, but
it’s a little hard to describe,
kind of like your college fra
ternity or sorority initiation.
It’s eagerly sought, but by
the time you’re done it’s
hard to explain the details of
what happened. There are,
however, some telltale signs
in the “proper” Southern
genealogy. I like Jeff
Foxworthy (liking Jeff
Fox worthy isn’t one of those
telltale signs, by the way,
but it doesn't hurt) but Jeff
got it all wrong when he said
“You might be a redneck if
your family tree doesn’t
fork.” He had good inten
tions, but as a 25-year prac
ticing genealogist (and I’ll
practice till I get it right!) let
me assure you that he’s
talking about the wrong
king of flora. A good ol’ fash
ioned Southern pedigree
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
was sentenced to over 44
years without parole and
Ronald Nasir Mahdi was
sentenced to over 45 years
without parole for offenses
committed within the
Middle District of Georgia.
In addition, these two
defendants also entered
guilty pleas to other bank
robberies committed in
South Georgia, northern
Florida. Tennessee and
South Carolina. One of the
robberies involved a lending
institution in Perry, Ga. One
of the reasons Mr. Mahdi
and Mr Luster were appre
hended in such a timely
manner was the outstanding
police work done by mem
bers of the Perry Police
Department.
It was during this time
period that the investigation
revealed that these two
defendants had been
engaged in a spree of bank
robberies across the
Southeast. It was also recog
nized that if the Houston
County District Attorney’s
Office proceeded with the
State prosecution of the
Perry robbery, that the state
prosecution could adversely
affect the ability of other
U.S. Attorneys to prosecute
generation, water supplies
and oil drilling are back on
line and functioning.
Schools are open. The Iraqi
economy is once again
becoming vibrant. Although
Iraqi civilians are still in
danger from deliberate tar
geting by terrorist bombs
and gunfire, an increasingly
effective Iraqi military and
police force are helping us
make the country safer.
Though some in our media
do not appear to appreciate
our efforts, the Iraqi people
do. A recent poll by ABC and
the BBC found that while
Iraqis understandably want
to stand on their own two
feet, only 15.1 percent of
respondents want the coali
tion troops to leave Iraq
now. In fact, over 70 percent
say things have either
remained the same, or have
gotten better since Saddam
was ousted from power and
must, by definition, have at
least three sets of cousins
marrying at some point
somewhere. That’s not a
family tree, Jeffrey, it’s a
family tumbleweed! We call
each other “cousin” at
reunions for a reason.
Equally important to a
Southern family tree
(bush?) is the Ghost of the
Lost Cause. Somewhere
there’s got to be at least one
ancestor, and preferably
more, who fought in a
grand, doomed struggle for
independence, only to see
that effort savagely crushed.
It’s critical that your ances
tor survived that war. It
helps when it comes to time
to tell stories and father
descendants.
Conveniently, there are a
couple of fights to choose
from. The Big One, of
course, is the “War of
Northern Aggression,” the
spat people above the
Mason-Dixon prefer to call
the Civil War, although
around here we don’t see
anything civil or friendly
about it. Any honorable"
Southern soldier from 1861-
65 is a welcome addition,
but the Holy Grail of Family
Trees has got to be claiming
a cavalryman, one of Jeb
Stuart’s or Nathan Forrest’s
boys, some dashing young
cavalier in gray. Now that’s
instant pride!
Going back a little further,
and thus a little harder to
come by, are participants of
the Scottish Lost Cause of
1746. After the crushing
defeat at Culloden Moor, a
flood of Scottish immigrants
came to the Colonies, not all
by choice. And there are
that happy few who can
these individuals on various
bank robbery and firearms
charges. While this may
sound odd to the average
person, various legal issues
involving the federal rules of
evidence and federal rules of
criminal procedure would
have made the prosecution
more complicated had the
Houston County District
Attorney proceeded forward
in his plans to prosecute Mr.
Luster and Mr. Mahdi.
I am writing to praise not
only the hard work of the
Perry Police Department
but also to praise the judg
ment, cooperation and dis
cretion of Houston County
District Attorney Kelly
Burke. It took a lot of politi
cal courage to hand off to
the “Feds” a prosecution
that was very highly publi
cized and could have led to a
very significant sentence
(life without parole) in the
State System. Mr. Burke,
once informed of the various
issues that could be created
by a dual prosecution, will
ingly cooperated with feder
al authorities and allowed
the Perry robbery to be com
bined in with other federal
offenses. This cooperation
greatly assisted the federal
that things are going well.
More support than oppose
the invasion of Iraq to
remove Saddam Hussein.
The prospect of democracy
is frightening terrorists. Al-
Qaeda operative Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi sent a letter to
his superiors saying the Al-
Qaeda jihadist terrorists in
Iraq were being “suffocated”
by the coalition, and would
be ruined if democracy
comes to the Iraqi people.
The good news does not
stop at the borders of Iraq.
When the rest of the world
saw the United States was
serious about the war
against terror, and willing, if
necessary, to go it alone,
some regimes got the mes
sage. Libya opened up and
has invited American and
British experts to dismantle
a surprisingly advanced poi
son gas and nuclear
weapons program. Pakistan
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
trace blood back to Bonnie
Prince Charlie and his one
night stand with Flora
MacDonald’s girl the
evening after the fateful bat
tle. Perhaps Charlie would
have done better if he’d
been thinking about the bat
tle, instead of planning how
he’d contribute to revered
Southern pedigives. By the
way, if you can possibly turn
up a Confederate cavalry
officer with a last name
beginning with “Mac,”
that’s an almost guaranteed
admittance into at least two
dozen lineage societies! You
are planning to join tp line
age society, right?
I’ve also learned a
bit about my immediate
family’s dynamics through
the power of genealogy My
wife, as it turns out, has
more than .a little Scots and
Irish blood coursing in her
veins. Teresa, not surpris
ingly, is also prone to lieing
quite, well, let’s say ‘pas
sionate" about events in her
life - right down to why her
husband didn’t Uke out the
trash like he was supposed
to. I, on the other hand,
inherited good, level-headed
Dutch tendencies from my
father’s ancestors. So at my
house it’s Gernnnic calm
versus Celtic fire. Somehow
it works, and works well. It
will be interesting to see
how that mix of cultures
plays out in our children.
So good luck to jou, baby
Beth. You’ll soon be here
and have a whole n*w world
to explore.
You won’t go it alone.
Daddy can assure you
there’s a grand galery of
ancestors rooting fry you,
every step of the way.
prosecution that ultimately
led to resolution of bank
robberies committed in four
different states.
Since there is no parole in
the federal systeni, Mr.
Mahdi will be almost 100
years old and Mr. Luster will
be almost 75 years old
before they get out of feder
al prison.
The people of Houston
County were well served by
Mr. Burke’s actions and,
although the sentence that
came down in Court on
April 1 is in the Federal
System, the Houston
County District Attorney’s
Office deserves a tremen
dous amount of credit for
coordinating with the feder
al prosecutors in this mat
ter.
In fact, I would regard this
particular case as a quintes
sential example of the good
things that can happen
when local, state and federal
authorities work together
and are not concerned with
who gets the credit but
rather concerned with get
ting the most efficient use of
the taxpayers’ resources.
Maxwell Wood
United States Attorney
Macon
finally opened the books on
Dr. Adul trader Khan, who
was running a worldwide
nuclear technology bazaar.
Pakistan hns helped nab
high-ranking Al-Qaeda
members, an<! joined efforts
to flush the terrorists out of
the mountainous border
regions of their nation.
Though the var against
terror continuns, let us
pause for a moment to
reflect on the important vic
tory against the forces of
terror which was won by our
troops in liberutingthe long
suffering Iraqi people from
the grip of Saddam Hussein.
The victory is significant
and will have an impact on
events for some time to
come.
U.S. Sen. Saxby
Chambliss serves on the
Senate Armed Services
Committee and Semte Select
Committee on Intelligence.