Newspaper Page Text
4A
♦ TUESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2005
' d 3Hmistiwt ITmuc |i
CLLrje JJoxtmm
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
President ,
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Spam Busting Appreciated
Politicians look for constituencies (groups of
voters) that they can count on at election time.
There are blacks, Hispanics, women, lawyers,
doctors, the elderly, the young ... the list could go
on and on.
Gov. Sonny Perdue has tapped into a con
stituency that should earn him a lot of votes,
whether he realizes it or not.
He has taken a strong stand against junk e-mail
- commonly called “spam” - in our computers. He
proposes a “Slam Spam E-mail Act,” which would
make it possible to charge violators of the act
with a felony.
There are millions of people in Georgia who use
computers. Nothing annoys them more than
spam. Their e-mail inboxes often are loaded with
unwanted, unsolicited mail, some of which can do
damage to computers.
If computer users, who benefit from the law
that the governor proposes, show their apprecia
tion at the polls there won’t be many votes left for
an opponent.
Another Economic Engine
A heretofore overlooked important contributor
to the economy of Warner Robins and Houston
County is Macon State College.
The economic impact on Middle Georgia by
MSC was more than sll2 million in 2004, accord
ing to a study released by the University of
Georgia.
The Warner Robins campus is growing rapidly.
Its economic impact locally will continue to grow
as enrollment does.
Often we are prone to look at the economic
impact of the giants in the area - Robins Air
Force Base, the Houston County School System
and Houston Medical Center, for example - and
overlook others who make major contributions.
It is about time that we begin looking around
and recognizing smaller businesses and indus
tries that add to the overall prosperity of this
growing county.
Rice can't take the heat
Editor:
During the recent Senate confirmation
hearings for Dr. Condoleeza Rice to be our
next secretary of state - to replace the out
spoken, genial, intelligent, Colin Powell -
something happened. It was quickly notice
able that she is not anyway near as sophisti
cated and capable as her friend and mentor,
Colin Powell.
Sen. Barbara Boxer showed to the world
that Dr. Rice misled the public over our
going to war in Iraq. She contradicted her
self and the president without knowing or
On strippers, nailed skulls and gaudy galas
Three recent true news
items that caught my eye:
The world needs strip
pers too
A “Career Day” speaker at
a California middle school
may be stripped of the honor
of oration after telling
eighth-graders that exotic
dancing is a very lucrative
profession.
William Fried, the presi
dent of a management con
sulting firm, told students
that “you can earn a
tremendous amount of
money as an exotic dancer, if
that’s your desire.”
According to a wire story, he
noted that strippers can
make $250,000 a year or
more, and that the exact
amount of financial oppor
tunity was proportional to
the dancer’s bust size.
When asked by students
how he knew so much about
the salaries of exotic
dancers, Fried replied,
“That’s what Tiffany told
me... uh, I mean, that’s what
Rex Gambill
Managing Editor
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
Len Robbins
Columnist
airpub@planttel.net
our research indicates.” (He
actually didn’t say that, but
wouldn’t it be funnier if he
did?)
Fried’s 55-minute talk
was entitled “The Secret of
a Happy Life.” Really.
Jane Lathrop Stanford
Middle School Principal
Joseph DiSalvo said he plans
to send letters of apology
home to parents, although
he didn’t rule out Fried
speaking again at the school.
Remember, this happened
You can take as long as you like
Attention is being called
to the fact that fewer than
half of the students graduat
ing from universities do so
in four years, which used to
be normal. Almost a fourth
of the students who gradu
ate take six years. That’s a
long party, which is what
they must be doing if it
takes so long to graduate.
• • •
Among reasons being
given for students taking so
long to graduate is that
courses cannot be worked
into schedules and so many
freshmen are not prepared
to deal with college courses.
In my opinion, anyone not
prepared to enter college
should be turned down.
There’s no excuse for reme
dial classes at the expense of
taxpayers. Of course, in my
opinion, universities like the
fact students take longer to
graduate. It increases the
school’s enrollment, which
calls for more professors and
more money.
• • •
After watching all those
remembering it! Then she whined and
bleated that her integrity was being ques
tioned!
Dr. Rice failed President Harry Truman’s
test because she cannot take the heat in the
kitchen! In such a friendly atmosphere,
filled with so many of her admirers and
friends, and after weeks of preparation, she
couldn’t take any constructive criticism and
questioning! Dr. Rice’s obvious confirmation
will happen because of politics and not on
merit! Condi failed her test!
Frank W. Gadbois
Warner Robins
in California.
A nail in the noggin
Patrick Lawler had a
headache, but couldn’t nail
down its cause. His dentist
found the culprit - a four
inch nail embedded in
Lawler’s skull.
This from an Associated
Press story: Lawler, a
Colorado construction work
er, unknowingly shot a nail
into his mouth when a nail
gun backfired on the job.
According to the story,
Lawler didn’t realize a sec
ond nail had shot through
his mouth. Six days after the
mishap, Lawler visited the
dentist after suffering from
headaches and blurry vision.
A four-hour surgery
removed the nail - which
was almost two inches into
his brain, according to doc
tors. The neurosurgeon who
performed the surgery said
this was the second time
that hospital had seen a
patient who was injured
with a nail gun and didn’t
you
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
'-wm
Foy Evans
Columnist
foyevans 19@cox.net
females on television with
breasts almost bared and
very little to keep them
warm above the waist, I
can’t help wondering why
all of them don’t die of pneu
monia.
• • •
It doesn’t make sense for
so many people to complain
about traffic signals on
Watson Boulevard and
Russell Parkway not being
synchronized. On many
occasions I drive from
Tree Round-Up a success
Editor:
On behalf of Keep Warner Robins
Beautiful and the City of Warner Robins,
please accept my sincere appreciation not
only for advertising our Great Christmas
Tree Round-Up, but also for featuring the
program in your daily Calendar of Events.
We are proud to announce our citywide
Christmas tree recycling program was a
tremendous success! With your help, 71 vol
unteers donated 237 hours to grind 6.58
tons of Christmas trees into mulch. While
the value of volunteer hours, donations, and
use of equipment is valued at more than
realize it.
I find it amazing that
something can be lodged in
your brain and you not
know it. My math teachers
in grades four through 12
also found it amazing.
Lavish inauguration
drawing jeers
When President George W.
Bush was inaugurated
Thursday, the festivities
alone cost an estimated S4O
million.
But that figure doesn’t
include other costs, includ
ing security, overtime for
law enforcement, and the
holiday federal workers in
the Washington, D.C., area
will enjoy. That will cost at
least another $66 million,
according to published
reports.
Of that S4O million,
almost all will come from
donations from Bush back
ers, although the security,
day off, etc., will be funded
by your tax dollars.
This is not new. All presi
Houston Lake Road to
Moody Road without having
to stop one time. It is
because I drive 40 miles per
hour and caught the first
light on green ... A couple of
days ago I entered Watson
Boulevard at Houston Lake
Road and drove side by side
with a police car all the way
to Houston Medical Center
without changing speed or
stopping ... The problem is
not signals that are not syn
chronized but traffic, which
ebbs and flows according to
the wills of so many drivers
in heavy traffic.
• • •
Guess what is the biggest
knock being put on
Jacksonville, site of the next
Super Bowl, by potential vis
itors. Answer: It has more
churches than bars. Maybe
it does and maybe it doesn’t.
But that’s what critics are
saying.
• • •
I had no trouble empathiz
ing with all those people
who stood out in sub-freez
ing weather for hours dur
$10,400, the true value is the spirit of team
work and volunteerism shared throughout
the program.
The members of Keep Warner Robins
Beautiful join me in saluting our many vol
unteers and businesses for their most gen
erous support of this program. The Great
Christmas Tree Round-Up continues to be a
perfect example of what non-profit, corpo
rate, and volunteer partnerships can accom
plish for the good of our community.
Debra A. Jones
Executive director
Keep Warner Robins Beautiful
dents have a big, fancy
wingding to celebrate their
inauguration. But with U.S.
troops fighting overseas in
Iraq and Afghanistan, and
the relief effort for tsunami
victims in Asia, some are
calling for a cutback from
such lavishness.
Dallas billionaire Mark
Cuban, the owner of the
NBA’s Mavericks, suggested
scrapping the inauguration
altogether and donating the
money to tsunami victims.
This from the man who gave
Shawn Bradley millions to
stand around and be 7-foot
6. Congressman Anthony
Weiner of New York has sug
gested redirecting the inau
gural money to bolster
equipment or provide
bonuses for U.S. troops.
Others have recommend
ed Bush take a cue from
another wartime president,
Franklin D. Roosevelt, who
eschewed an inauguration
parade in 1945 in favor of a
less expensive buffet for a
limited few. Or you could
have an “Andrew Jackson
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
ing the presidential inaugu
ration last week. I went
through something like that
(temperatures in the 20s) in
1953 when I was in New
York City for the annual
Thanksgiving Parade. After
several hours in that kind of
weather and you wonder if
you ever will thaw out.
• • •
Has it ever occurred to
you that sometimes the
medicines you take can do
more harm than the prob
lems being treated? I know
of three recent instances
where medications that con
flicted with each other
caused patients serious
problems. Anyone taking
more than one medicine
would be wise to check with
their pharmacist concerning
reactions. I do. I also refer to
my Pill Book before adding a
new medicine to those I
already take. In an ideal
world we would not be tak
ing medicines because, as
the labels say, all of them
have side effects.
Inauguration” - rock-gut
hard cider served to the
masses on the White House
lawn for a minimal cost (if
you don’t count the dam
age).
I like a gaudy gala as
much as anybody, but I find
it impossible to reasonably
justify spending any money
- one penny - on a spiffy
soiree to celebrate Bush’s
re-election if one U.S. soldier
is killed overseas because
our government can’t afford
the proper armor.
Strippers are making
$250,000 a year, we’re
spending millions on a party,
and our troops are having to
make their own armor to
protect themselves?
Sounds like a lot of us
have nails in our head.
Len Robbins is editor and
publisher of The Clinch
County News in Homerville,
whose award-winning week
ly column appears in over a
dozen newspapers. A proud
University of Georgia gradu
ate, Robbins and his wife
have three young children.