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♦ TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 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
Misuse Of Eminent Domain
It’s hard to believe that some Georgia lawmakers
want to pass a law that would permit private com
panies to take property for their own use from
individual citizens.
But that is exactly what is being proposed in the
Georgia Senate at the urging of a Virginia law
firm, which expects to benefit financially if the law
is passed.
Governments have the right to take property for
“fair market value” from individuals, whether they
want to sell or not, for government purposes.
Eminent domain is used in some states to force
property owners to sell to private companies
against their wills so that shopping centers, condos
and office buildings can replace them because they
will bring in more taxes.
This, in our opinion, is an abuse of eminent
domain.
Some heavy hitters in the Georgia Senate are
behind a bill that would permit private developers
to build public projects, for which the private
developers could collect fees or lease back to the
state. .
The Virginia law firm has been lobbying for such
a law, which would be in conflict with the spirit of
eminent domain in its purest form.
Projects could be selected in secret. Competitive
bidding would not be required. And unwilling own
ers could be forced to sell so that private companies
could benefit.
It’s wrong. We hope that senators will reject this
proposed law as the boondoggle that it is.
Eminent domain is a good thing. It is important.
It is necessary when used wisely. Using eminent
domain to deprive innocent people of their proper
ty so that others can turn it into money is immoral
and corrupt.
Further Ban On Smoking
A comprehensive ban on smoking in restaurants,
public buildings, hotels, bars, shopping centers,
businesses and other facilities where the public
gathers is working its way through the Georgia
legislature.
It has a good chance of succeeding.
The Georgia Senate gave such a bill overwhelm
ing endorsement last year. Former Speaker of the
House Terry Coleman (D-Eastman) would not per
mit it to come to a vote on the floor of the House.
With Republicans in control of the House this
year, it appears that the smoking ban bill will sail
through and reach Gov. Sonny Perdue’s desk for
signing.
The bill, in its present form, excludes standalone
bars, but its sponsor says that he may remove that
exclusion. There are other reasonable exceptions.
It does prohibit lighting up within 25 feet of a
building to make sure that smoke does not drift in
through windows, ventilation or entrances.
Sponsors say the bill is not intended to prevent
people from smoking, but rather protection of non
smokers from unwanted second hand smoke.
We may see this new law enacted during the pres
ent session of the legislature.
Send your letters to the Editor to:
me Houston Home journal
P.O. Box 1910 • Perry, Ga 31069 or
Email: hhj@evansnewspapers.com
Education, tort reform dominate last week in Senate
After a spirited debate, the
Senate passed its first piece of
legislation last Thursday, and
adopted Senate Bill 33 which
will allow students across the
state to take high school
courses, such as Advanced
Placement (AP) and high
level math and science classes
via the Internet.
The proposal, part of Gov.
Sonny Perdue’s education
package, will benefit many
rural Georgia students who
all too often don’t have access
to certain high school courses
such as trigonometry or
physics because teachers cer
tified in these areas are not
available. The legislation
passed 55-0, after several sen
ators expressed concerns
regarding a provision in the
bill that will allow home-
« 41 1
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Ross Tolleson
State Senator
R-Perry
schooled and private school
students to have access to the
“virtual high school.”
The measure was amended
on the floor of the Senate to
ensure that public school stu-
Thousands are coming, but not overnight
When the Houston
County Board of Education
discussed anticipated future
explosive growth recently,
the information swept
throughout the county with
mixed reactions.
The school board was told
that plans must go forward
immediately to serve stu
dents who will come from
some 17,500 new homes
that are on the drawing
boards.
For some reason, most
people got the impression
that 17,500 building permits
have been issued and as
soon as all those houses can
be built families will
descend on our county in
droves.
Actually, subdivisions that
will include 17,500 building
lots are being developed.
Builders have to purchase
the lots. And builders must
find buyers for the homes
they construct.
There’s no doubt that last
year’s growth of approxi
mately 1,800 new houses
was a milestone that possi
bly will be outstripped in the
near future. However, the
panic that some people have
expressed to me is unwar
ranted.
Chamber of Commerce
types hear all those projec
tions of growth and they see
dollar signs. Most of the peo
Defending the reputation of a cartoon sponge
My wife and I are very care
ful about what television pro
grams our children are
allowed to watch.
For instance, my wife
reviews all shows our kids
watch, and has even banned
some programs that are age
appropriate according to the
TV rating system. My wife
also put the kibosh on view
ings of “The Surreal Life,”
despite my whimpering pleas.
That said, we were both
astonished when conservative
groups recently targeted the
cartoon program, “Spongebob
Squarepants.”
According to a New York
Times story, James Dobson,
author and founder of Focus
on the Family, recently derid
ed Spongebob at a black-tie
dinner for members of
Congress celebrating
President George W Bush’s
inauguration in Washington,
D.C. He said Spongebob’s cre
ators enlisted the cartoon
character in a “pro-homosex
ual video” and urged his allies
to take a stand against
Spongebob as part of a “spiri
tual battle” for the country,
according to the story.
Another “family” group, the
American Family Association,
has also ripped the creators of
Spongebob as “promoting
homosexuality,” pointing to
items on the We Are Family
Foundation Web site.
For those of you who don’t
know who Spongebob
Squarepants is, he’s basically
a sponge who lives in a
pineapple, wears a tie and
square pants, works as a fry
cook, and has a friend who is
a starfish named Patrick. Yes,
Patrick is pink. Maybe that’s
where all this started.
Anyway, I’ve watched
Spongebob for years with my
children, and sometimes
without my children, and
have never found anything
dents would get first crack at
the virtual high school if
space is limited in a particular
subject area. Bipartisan sup
port for this language, which
was not in the original legisla
tion, perfected the bill, which
now goes to the House of
Representatives for debate.
Another piece of Gov.
Perdue’s education package is
aimed at keeping teachers in
the classroom with the chil
dren they teach. In today’s
society, when teachers want
to advance to the next level
they must become a principal
or assistant superintendent.
To keep teachers in the class
room we are looking to imple
ment the “Master Teacher”
program. This plan will recog
nize educators for gains they
have made in student achieve
-JPJ
Rk. Mo*.
Foy Evans
Columnist
foyevans 19@cox.net
pie who have talked to me
during the past week are
retirees or plain working
folks who are expressing
fear that all the growth on
the drawing boards will
mean nothing more to them
than inconveniences and
higher taxes.
Growth is inevitable. It is
also necessary for a commu
nity to prosper and to keep
taxes under control. There
are plenty of examples of
cities that rejected growth,
pulled themselves into their
own cocoons and wound up
stagnated with high taxes
and fewer and fewer servic
es.
The school board is wise
looking into the future and
making plans for new
schools in new parts of
Len Robbins
Columnist
airpub@planttel.net
remotely subversive about it.
The video in question was
created by Nile Rodgers, who
wrote the Sister Sledge ’7os
disco hit “We Are Family.”
The video, which I’ve seen,
has over 100 well-known car
toon characters dancing to
the song. Rodgers said he cre
ated the video and his We Are
Family Foundation in the
wake of the Sept. 11 attacks
"It's amazing how an ice storm can
make a 60-watt bulb seem so bright!"
ment and will enable them to
share their talents and skills
with their colleagues in
exchange for a higher salary.
It keeps them in the class
room with the children and
gives them the opportunity to
move up the “corporate” lat
ter as it were.
As in the past decades, the
2006 budget will invest more
than half of our state funds in
education. I can’t think of a
better way to spend the limit
ed resources we have, but we
must spend them wisely.
Because our state revenues
have increased this year, we
are able to give our public
school teachers a raise again
next year and we will be able
to fully fund the programs
already in place in our public
schools - removing some of
Houston County. This kind
of foresight can prevent a
crisis that easily could occur
without planning. The need
for more schools and class
rooms looms heavy over
their heads and it would be
foolhardy to ignore what lies
ahead.
Just when can we expect
to see homes on all those
17,500 lots that have been
approved throughout the
county? Not this year. Not
next year, either. It takes
people to buy those homes.
It would be unreasonable
to believe that Houston
County will not become
more like the suburban
counties around Atlanta
each year. We have so much
going for us and when there
is momentum it seems to
accelerate.
An interesting aspect of
this subject is that there are
developers who have big
plans for subdivisions that
will dwarf anything already
approved. On the horizon
are plans for the equivalent
of an entire new city with
more than 1,500 homes,
shopping, schools and recre
ation.
One of new development
still in the “buying up land”
stage will depend on the
migration of retirees from
Florida. A combination of
hurricanes, crowded condi
to foster better understand
ing of other cultures. I saw
the video weeks ago and
noticed absolutely nothing
sinister, nor was I looking for
it. Maybe that’s why I didn’t
see anything sinister.
Rodgers suggests the whole
fuss is a misunderstanding -
that Dobson and the
Spongebob bashers are mis
taking his Web site for a “We
Are Family” Web site that
does focus on alternative
lifestyles. Other comments by
the Spongebob critics strong
ly indicate they are referenc
ing the wrong Web site.
But when confronted with
evidence indicating such,
Focus on the Family didn’t
back down. An assistant to
Dobson, Paul Batura, said
“We see the video as an insid
ious means by which the
organization is manipulating
and potentially brainwashing
kids.”
Brainwashing them to
what? Dance?
the burden that our local sys
tems have had to grapple with
in the past few years.
Additionally, once again, your
school will have the flexibility
they need to determine where
they spend their precious
financial resources in your
community.
In the next few days, civil
justice reform legislation is
expected to be debated on the
Senate floor. The deliberation
probably will be long and
drawn out, but in the end, we
hope to have a piece of legisla
tion that will benefit all of the
citizens of Georgia. Frivolous
lawsuits have gotten out of
control in the past few years,
and it is incumbent upon us
to do something about it. All
too often, patients in rural
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
tions and never changing
weather has resulted in
many retirees moving from
Florida to the North
Georgia mountains. It is
more than a pipe dream that
many Floridians and
retirees who are afraid to go
to Florida because of hurri
canes will find Houston
County what they are look
ing for.
My acquaintances, who
have expressed concern
because their county no
longer is a small community
where everyone seems to
know everyone else, will
have to accept Atlanta-like
traffic and crowds just about
everywhere they go, but
they will find benefits, too.
None of this will happen
overnight. Our county will
not grow by 17,500 families
(about 50,000 people) next
year.
The growth is coming. It
will bring benefits. It also
will bring many things we
could do without, including
more crime.
Those of us who have been
around since the entire pop
ulation of Houston County
was about 10,000 will just
have to get on board and
enjoy the ride. It has been
interesting and exciting so
far. The future may be even
better.
I watched Bugs Bunny
dress up like a woman every
Saturday morning for the
first 12 years of my life. I did
n’t become a drag queen. I’ve
never attempted to drop an
anvil off a cliff on somebody’s
head or solve a mystery at an
abandoned ski lodge with the
aid of Don Knotts, although
I’d love to do both.
And watching Spongebob
Squarepants won’t make any
body gay. I’ve actually read
one of Dobson’s books on
child-rearing. It made sense.
This doesn’t. If he and his
cohorts are serious about
waging a “spiritual battle” for
this country, I suggest they
target an actual threat to
moral values, not a cartoon
sponge.
hen Robbins is editor and
publisher of The Clinch
County News in Homerville,
whose award-winning weekly
column appears in over a
dozen newspapers and is a
proud University of Georgia
graduate.
Georgia do not have physi
cians, such as 08/GYNs,
because expensive insurance
premiums have driven them
out of the profession or mini
mally out of the community.
This is an issue you will hear
a lot about in the next few
weeks. Let me know your
thoughts on this and any
other legislation we may be
taking up this year.
Call or come visit when you
need me...
Sen. Ross Tolleson repre
sents the 20th Senate District.
He may be reached at (404)
463-8056 or
rtolleso@legis.state.ga.us.
Sen. Tolleson represents
Bleckley, Dodge, Houston,
Johnson, Laurens, Pulaski,
Telfair and Wilcox counties.