Newspaper Page Text
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♦ SUNDAY, JANUARY 23, 2005
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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
Bureaucracy Standing In Way
It sounds absurd that a land swap between three
governmental entities that will contribute to the
national defense is being held up by another govern
ment agency.
But so far it is happening.
The land swap involves the city of Warner Robins,
the state of Georgia and Robins Air Force Base.
The land at issue and causing the holdup is adja
cent to the Ocmulgee River. It presently belongs to
the city of Warner Robins. In exchange for this basi
cally swamp land the city will receive 543 acres of
state property north of the base to be turned over to
Robins APB for future expansion.
You would believe that this is a slam dunk.
However, the National Park Service has been hold
ing up the transaction, which already has been
approved by the city and state.
When the city received the property in the 19705, a
shelter and picnic area were built. The shelter has
been damaged by a falling tree. The picnic tables are
gone, probably washed away by flooding waters. The
National Park Service wants them restored. There
are other bureaucratic obstacles, too.
It all sounds so juvenile it is difficult to believe that
a big issue is being made over swamp and flood plain
land accessible only from the river.
The state, which will become owner of the land,
has made overtures to pacify the National Park
Service. The state wants to make the land available
for fishing and hunting and has offered to retain
restrictions presently imposed on it by the park serv
ice.
So far no luck.
Jesse Fountain, the city’s community development
director, minces no words concerning the impasse.
“They’re just being a little pig-headed about this,
in my opinion,” he says. “Dealing with the feds does
n’t make sense a lot of times. Common sense is not
one of their high points.”
Fountain speaks from experience. He has been
dealing with federal agencies for more than three
decades on behalf of the city. Bureaucrats in federal
agencies just love to make local governments jump
through hoops just because they have the power to
do so.
With support for Robins AFB and national defense
involved it seems to us that someone high up in the
National Park Service should break the deadlock and
get this land swap completed.
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Garbage In,
garbage out
Editor:
This is in response to
Walter Huckeba’s “Letter
writer afflicted with
dogma.”
First, for Waiter’s edifica
tion, dogma is an authorita
tive principle that is consid
ered to be absolutely true. I
assume all good Christians
are dogmatic. Secondly, in
regards the information that
he “shares” with us misin
formed zealots, I refer him
to the statement in my last
letter to the Journal:
“People of his ilk feed upon
one another. It’s similar to a
computer where garbage is
fed in, and garbage comes
out. One writes letters in,
noting a lot of bogus facts,
and then the other writes in
to quote him as an authori
ty.” Especially, the garbage
in, garbage-out principle.
Walter probably missed that
portion, as he praises Mr.
Gadbois with such deep con
viction.
He quotes figures again of
a “comprehensive survey”
on the number of
Christians. A comprehen
sive survey by whom - an
agnostic society, or an athe-
Warner Robins mayor and council act wisely
You have to give credit to
the Warner Robins mayor
and council for acting quick
ly and decisively to protect
the appearance of the
Russell Parkway extension
between Houston Lake
Road and Interstate 75.
Many citizens were afraid
that the governing body of
the city would let time pass
without action and the
aggressive billboard indus
try would clutter the land
scape.
The mayor and council
have put a 120-day morato
rium on building on the
stretch of new highway
while establishing zoning
regulations.
More importantly, the city
fathers have adopted guide
lines for signs that will be
permitted.
So far billboards will not
become the main attraction
on Russell Parkway, as they
are on Watson Boulevard.
When I became mayor in
1976 there were a few bill
boards on Watson
Boulevard. With the support
The truth about the cop-killing Marine
If you watched the
evening news a week ago,
you may recall the sensa
tional story of a distraught
Marine who died in a mur
derous shootout with police.
Anti-war writers and Latino
activists have turned the
cop-killer, Lance Cpl.
Andres Raya, into a martyr.
Don’t believe the hype.
Network and cable TV
shows repeatedly broadcast
video and photo stills of
Raya’s Jan. 9 bloody gun
battle in a Ceres, Calif.,
liquor store. Mental health
experts immediately blamed
post-traumatic stress disor
der. Ignoring the cold-blood
ed murder of one of the
ambushed police officers
who was lured to his death,
international headlines
instead trumpeted the sup
posedly traumatized Raya:
Teenage War Veteran
Committed Suicide ‘By Cop’
Marine ‘Committed
Suicide by Cop to Avoid Iraq
Return’
Kin of Marine Who Shot
Policemen Ask if He Is a
Casualty of War
Young Camp Pendleton
Marine who shot officers did
not want to go back to Iraq.
LETTERS TO THE BIITOR
ist one? He says it’s “his
belief” that Christians are
afraid to “out” themselves.
Well, why would they want
to come out of the closet and
join some group that is held
in “such low esteem”
(according to Huckeba) by
the great majority of socie
ty?
As far as the school cur
riculum is concerned, Mr.
Huckeba didn’t learn his
lack of faith in the school
room, thanks to far wiser
heads, but no doubt from his
“computer knowledge.”
Thank God again, that there
are so few infestations.
.
Foy Evans
Columnist
foyevansl9@cox.net
of city council I was able to
deny construction of any of
those huge billboards in the
city for the next eight years.
It was not a popular deci
sion with the billboard
industry, because big bucks
were at stake. However, I
figured this industry already
had the Georgia legislature
in its hip pocket and all
those interstate miles pro
vided enough places for
more billboards.
I just hope that the mayor
jiUk''
ddttKm. / A
Michelle Malkin
Columnist
Creators Syndicate
A far-left Web site, San
Francisco Bay Area
Indymedia.org, posted a
complaint that the
California legislature
which lowered its flags to
honor slain cop Sgt. Howard
Stevenson - was showing
“no consideration [for the]
young man whose life was
ruined by military service.”
La Voz de Aztlan, a radical
fringe publication by
Mexican nationalists, lion
ized Raya and demonized
police:
“One can only speculate
what horrors Andres Raya
experienced in Fallujah. The
slaughter by U.S. occupation
forces of Iraqi civilians in
Fallujah has been compared
to the slaughter in Guernica
by Nazi forces in 1937.
Many U.S. Marines with a
conscious (sic) have found it
very difficult to reconcile the
Iraqi civilian murders in
their minds and have com
mitted suicide. U.S. Marine
Andres Raya decided to take
some cops with him. Most
probably he was harassed by
them while growing up
Mexican in this small north
ern California town.” The
HOW TO SUBMIT LETTERS
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Washington St. in Perry - between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Russ Norris
Warner Robins
Georgia butts Into
smokers' lives
Editor:
I found Gov. Perdue’s
statement that, “We don’t
want a busybody govern
ment - a boss - that butts
into our lives every chance it
gets to tell us how to work,
how to play, where to live
and on and on,” interesting.
This philosophy seems to
extend to everyone except
people who smoke ciga
and council do not succumb
to the kind of lobbying and
pressure sure to come their
way. If they stand firm thou
sands of Houston Countians
will be indebted to them and
appreciative, too.
• • •
The city officials demon
strated a long-term view
when they came up with
proposed ordinances that
would encourage beautifica
tion adjacent to the Russell
corridor. Even an intercon
necting sidewalk system is
envisioned, though this
might be a toughie.
The city does have the
power to control the types of
commercial development on
the road. They will face
pressures to deviate from
whatever policies they put
into place.
However, if zoning and
building restrictions that
are imposed are enforced
strictly without exceptions
the city officials will get high
marks and will have few real
problems.
One of the first things I
paper also lambasted Raya’s
hometown, Ceres, as “a red
neck town notorious for its
mistreatment of his people.”
Writing in the anti-war
publication Counter Punch,
Jack Random lamented
Raya’s death as “symbolic of
the untold story of war.
Hundreds of thousands of
trained killers survive com
bat only to come home to a
life for which they are no
longer prepared. They have
seen what men and women
should never see. They have
engaged in operations that
brought them face to face
with the death of innocent
civilians, women and chil
dren.”
The only elements missing
in the bleeding-heart cover
age of Raya’s story were the
soundtrack to “Platoon”
and a bulk order of Kleenex.
There’s just one thing
wrong with the sympathetic
spin about the anti-war
Marine. It’s all dead wrong.
This much is true about
Raya: The 19-year-old man
did in fact serve with the
Marines’ Ist Intelligence
Battalion’s motor transport
unit as a driver in Iraq.
But contrary to the
impression left by initial
media reports, Raya had
never seen combat. And he
was not headed back to Iraq.
He had been transferred to a
new unit scheduled for
deployment to Okinawa.
“During our investigation,
we found he wasn’t due to
go back to Iraq, never faced
combat situations and never
even fired his gun,”
Stanislaus County Sheriffs
Deputy Jason Woodman
said.
Raya was high on cocaine
at the time of the ambush,
rettes. Naturally, the legisla
ture increased cigarette
taxes, but axed the increase
in taxes on alcohol.
Any time there is a “budg
et shortfall,” it’s perfectly
acceptable to increase the
tax on “evil” smokers, but
not on drunks who kill peo
ple on our highways daily,
nor is it acceptable to expect
parents to take care of their
own children, or stop taking
drugs, or stop having sex to
prevent unwanted pregnan
cies or AIDS. Billions of dol
lars to place children in
unnecessary “early educa
tion” programs, which are
basically “baby-sitting” and
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
learned upon becoming
mayor was that people are
willing to go along with just
about anything sensible if
they know, without doubt,
that everyone is eating out
of the same dish.
Elected officials get into
trouble when they begin
making exceptions and give
the impression that they are
playing favorites.
Mayor Donald Walker and
members of this council are
experienced and astute
politicians and are unlikely
to make that mistake.
• • •
I cannot understand how
any American could not
have been proud, impressed,
thrilled, excited, overcome
with emotion and patriotism
at seeing their president
inaugurated last Thursday.
It isn’t about the man. It is
about our country. It is
something unique. It is red,
white and blue spine-tin
gling America at its most
impressive.
according to police reports.
He was reportedly affiliated
with the prison gang
Nuestra Familia.
Investigators found pho
tos of Raya wearing gang
colors and a shopping list in
his bedroom safe that
included body armor, assault
rifles and ammunition.
Authorities also discovered
a video showing Raya smok
ing what appears to be mar
ijuana and making gang
sign gestures. The tape
showed desecrated pieces of
the American flag laid on a
gymnasium floor to spell out
expletives directed at
President Bush.
Family members deny
Raya’s gang ties and blame
the military. Meanwhile,
Raya’s neighborhood was
decorated with anti-cop
graffiti such as “Kill the
Pigs” in his memory. And
militant Hispanic residents
celebrate Raya. Ceres resi
dent Hilda Mercado told
The New York Times that
Raya “died like a true
Mexican: He died standing
on his feet.”
The question isn’t what
got into Raya when he
entered the military. The
question is why and how
Raya - who police say had a
propensity for violence well
before he joined the Marines
- got into our military in the
first place.
And now you know the
rest of the story.
Michelle Malkin is author
of “Invasion: How America
Still Welcomes Terrorists,
Criminals, and Other
Foreign Menaces to Our
Shores” (Regnery). Malkin’s
e-mail address is
malkin @comcast. net.
“feeding” windfalls for the
very people who are unwill
ing to work and provide for
their own.
Non-smokers and
“reformed” smokers, forget
about writing your hateful
e-mails in answer to this.
I’m not listening. Fair is fair,
and there is nothing fair
about targeting one group of
people when it comes to
taxes. Smoking is a legal
activity in this country. As
long as I don’t get “up in
your face,” I have “rights,”
too.
Carmen Lyons
Perry