Newspaper Page Text
4A
TUESDAY, JULY 27, 2004
TTmtstmt Timm' d
(UJje JJnurtml
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
President,
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Repeating Spade Not AH Bad
Some third-graders will be required to repeat
the grade during the next school year because
they could not pass the required CRCT reading
test.
For the children who did not pass during the
regular school year and failed even after special
classes during the summer, this may appear to
be a catastrophe. If they and their parents look
at it the right way, repeating the grade can be a
blessing.
Children who cannot read at grade level are at
a disadvantage. They cannot learn at grade
level. They are behind others in their classes,
and they know it. Getting behind escalates year
after year. Each step of the way the inability to
read at grade level places a heavier burden on
children. Some of them struggle through, hat
ing school because they cannot keep up. Some
just drop out as they get into higher grades.
Some parents consider it a stigma for their
child to fail to be promoted. We don’t. The pur
pose of going to school is to learn. Not having
the ability to learn is more harmful to a child
than remaining in the same grade an extra year
to acquire reading skills that will serve them
well the rest of their lives.
It is important to take note of the fact that
most of the public school third-graders in
Houston County passed the reading test. The
fact that a few of them failed is regrettable, but
remaining in the third grade can be a blessing
in disguise.
Larry’s Influence Missed
Paving projects in Houston County are falling
behind schedule. Some projects are being put
off more than a year.
A delegation from Houston County last week
received lip service from a DOT official but no
promise that paving projects will be speeded up,
or that the resurfacing of Watson Boulevard
- already eight months behind schedule - ever
will be completed.
This is the time for a Larry Walker to step in.
But we do not have Larry and his influence in
Atlanta to put a burr under the saddle of the
DOT to get things done.
Sometimes it takes political influence to
inspire state officials to hurry up. When Larry
was the second most powerful man in the
Georgia House a mere suggestion from him got
results.
This isn’t the last time that we will miss his
influence in the state capitol.
Send pr Letters to the Editor to:
The Houston Home Journal
P.O. Box 1910 * Perry, Ga 31069 or
Email: hhj@evansnewspapers.com
There's no attacking a 'whispering campaign'
Last week, it was reported
that the chairman of the fed
eral Election Assistance
Commission, DeForest
Soaries, had suggested that
the Department of
Homeland Security seek
legal advice on how to delay
the Nov. 2 general election
to counter a possible terror
ist attack. The concern
about election security
stems from a terrorist
bombing in Spain on March
11 that disrupted elections
there.
Soaries further claimed
that the government has
been negligent in not mov
ing faster to prepare for the
possibility of terroristic
activity on or around
Election Day.
“Nothing has been done,”
Soaries was quoted as say-
Rex Gambill
Managing Editor
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
Len Robbins
Columnist
airpub@planttel.net
ing. “It’s embarrassing that
the federal government has
n’t taken this more serious
ly”
The matter was quickly
“pooh-poohed” (legalese, I
think) by the Bush adminis
Suspense and excitement are missing
Convention time has
arrived. The Democrats are
in Boston this week to offi
cially nominate their candi
date for president of the
United States. Early in
August the Republicans will
do the same thing.
There will be no suspense.
Everyone knows who the
Democrats will choose as
their candidate for presi
dent. They also know who
the vice-presidential candi
date will be.
The major television net
works, which used to cover
these conventions from
gavel to gavel, replacing
most of their normal pro
gramming, do not consider
the national conventions
this year very newsworthy.
Each of the three major net
works is going to devote only
one hour each of the three
nights of the conventions to
coverage, which will be
speeches by dignitaries and
the acceptance speech of the
presidential nominees.
The cable networks,
always needing something
to fill the many hours they
are on the air, will provide
gavel-to-gavel coverage,
which will be watched by
only the most avid political
junkies.
The cable channels will fill
/ My dad must be really 01d... \
I He remembers when political \
l conventions kept folks awake! J /*
Fmkelstein endorses Oxford
Editor:
I plan on voting for a candidate who
has shown throughout the campaign
the ability to suffer the indignities
hurled at him by a publicity hungry
fringe candidate without blinking an
eye, and who has responded to outra
geous, ludicrous, and delusional accu
sations with a ready quip and a firm
resolve.
I plan on voting for a candidate who
has shown the ability to learn from his
mistakes- and, more importantly,
unlike any person presently holding
high office in the current administra
tion, the ability to publicly admit his
mistakes.
I plan on voting for a candidate who
will answer only to the people of the
United States, the people of Georgia,
tration, who claimed they
didn’t have any plans to
postpone the election and
didn’t know who this
Soaries character was.
But should our govern
ment be so quick to dismiss
this hare-brained notion?
Upon further review, Mr.
Soaries may have stumbled
upon a grand idea, right up
there with New Coke and
Cool Ranch Funyuns.
For instance, if you moved
the general election from
Nov. 2, to say, Nov. 7, a
Sunday, the terrorists would
have no idea we were voting
on that day, and thus, could
n’t terrorize us.
There would be a small
problem in that registered
voters wouldn’t know when
to vote, but I’m sure that
could be solved through a
HHr’ JflKg
Foy Evans
Columnist
foyevans 19@cox.net
the many hours they sup
posedly are covering the
convention with numerous
talking heads spouting off
on every subject imaginable
as if they know more than
anyone else on the globe.
It will take someone with
a very strong stomach to lis
ten to even a few hours each
day of the drivel that the
cable channels will dish out.
Since there will be no new
news and the outcome of the
nominating process already
is known there will be no
suspense to keep viewers
glued to their television sets
those three days.
• • •
I always liked the old
fashioned nominating con
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
and to his conscience.
I plan on voting for a candidate who,
when political advantage says vote
“Aye” and the interest of the People
says vote “Nay” to an authorization for
War, will vote for the People and not
for his perceived political interest.
I plan on voting for a candidate who
will do his utmost to make sure that
other parents, spouses, and children,
will no longer have to endure the
nightmare of having their loved ones
in harm’s way for no stated or dis
cernible purpose other than a refusal
of the current administration to admit
their errors or their lies.
I plan on voting for the only
Democratic candidate remaining who
has the chance of taking this seat back
for the Democratic Party.
On Aug. 10,1 plan on voting for Cliff
“whispering campaign.”
A “whispering campaign"
would go as follows: The
president would whisper to
Dick Cheney that we were
having the election on Nov.
7. Dick Cheney, after his
nap, would tell Colin Powell.
Colin Powell would tell
someone else who isn’t a ter
rorist, and it would trickle
down from there to some
non-terrorist Americans.
Or, instead of a “whisper
ing campaign,” which could
take days to complete, we
could keep the election date
the same and just use
results from certain “repre
sentative” states. The ter
rorists wouldn’t know
where to attack because the
states chosen as “represen
tative” would be a well
ventions.
Usually nobody had any
idea who would emerge as
the presidential nominee.
That was before the primar
ies, which have a way of
eliminating all except one
candidate long before the
conventions.
There were accusations in
the old days that candidates
were selected in “smoke
filled rooms.” Maybe they
were. But the public and the
delegates did not know what
went on in those smoke
filled rooms. So there was
plenty of suspense.
Usually there were two or
more viable candidates.
Sometimes one of them won
on the first ballot. Often two
or more ballots were neces
sary for one candidate to get
the necessary number of
votes from the delegates.
Watching at home, I
always enjoyed the drama,
the excitement and the sus
pense of those conventions.
If there was an incumbent
he normally was guaranteed
to be the nominee of his
party. Jimmy Carter was not
so lucky. The pompous sena
tor from Massachusetts
- Ted Kennedy - challenged
Carter for the nomination
and weakened him for the
general election.
guarded secret. States that
are likely targets for terror
ism - like Massachusetts,
New York, Florida and
California - would not have
their election results count
ed. States that were imper
vious from terrorist threat -
like Texas - would decide
the presidential election and
all other state and local
races throughout the nation.
Or, we could assign certain
electors to each state, based
on population, and those
electoral votes would decide
the presidential election
rather than the actual accu
mulation of votes by the
nation’s registered voters.
This way, it would be useless
for terrorists to attack
polling places in certain
states because those votes
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
• • •
Delegates arrived at the
convention pledged to some
one. They had to vote that
way on the first ballot.
Then, when there was no
winner, they could vote the
way they wanted to. A lot of
bargaining and skulldug
gery went on behind the
scenes where there was no
incumbent.
It was interesting, as a
viewer, to hear the inter
views with candidates, fol
low the ebb and flow of
votes, and eventually learn
who would emerge as the
party’s candidate.
There was enough sus
pense and excitement that
most Americans were glued
to their television sets to fol
low what was going on and
to hear the many speakers.
All that is gone now.
A cut-and-dried outcome
sucks suspense and excite
ment from the conventions.
And the networks, which
are tuned in to what people
are willing to watch, are rel
egating them to a mere hour
a night. The successful can
didates will not get the boost
conventions used to give to
them.
For most of us it will be a
ho-hum week.
Oxford.
Jim Finkelstein
Albany
Bush's address a must-read
Editor:
I wanted to urge you and your read
ers to watch C-SPAN or read a tran
script of President Bush’s address to
the Urban League on Friday. This
President honestly cares for America
and for our young people. His words
during this speech were from the heart
and every American (especially par
ents) should hear this message.
I am so thankful for a president who
cares so deeply about raising all chil
dren to be accountable and never to
take their freedom for granted.
Karen D. Richardson
Warner Robins
don’t really matter. Sounds
like a winner to me.
The thing is: We can’t let
terrorism affect our way of
life, and that includes voting
for about 23 percent of us.
If I’ve learned anything in
all my years in journalism,
and I haven’t, it’s that near
ly once out of 10 times, the
“crazy guy” has a legitimate
point. Maybe this is that
nearly once time.
Len Robbins is editor and
publisher of The Clinch
County News in Honxerville,
and a syndicated columnist
whose award-winning week
ly column appears in over a
dozen newspapers around
the state. A proud University
of Georgia graduate ,
Robbins and his wife have
three young children.