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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 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
Pay What They Ape Worth
The Warner Robins City Council wants the
pay of the next mayor increased to $75,000 a
year. At the present time the mayor is paid
$50,000 a year. It has been frozen at that level
for more than a decade.
Mayor Donald Walker turned down the idea of
an increase in pay for the mayor the last time
the subject came up. This week he was the lone
dissenting vote when council voted to ask the
legislative delegation to increase the mayor’s
pay-
Any increase, if approved, would not go to the
present mayor. It would go into effect after the
next election.
We believe that this full-time job is worth the
proposed salary. There are not many people
capable of running a progressive, growing city
like Warner Robins who can afford to make a
financial sacrifice to do so. We are fortunate
that Mayor Walker’s personal financial situa
tion makes it possible for him to ignore what
the job pays.
After all, he said, “I didn’t take this job for the
money.”
While on the subject of pay, let’s not overlook
the full-time county commission chairman.
County commissioners voted to seek an
increase in pay for their part-time jobs but neg
lected to ask for a pay raise for the chairman.
When the full-time chairman position was
created by the legislature, the annual pay was
set at $48,000. When Sherrill Stafford was
chairman the other commissioners went along
with annual raises, which had him receiving
more than SIOO,OOO a year by the time he died.
Ned Sanders still receives the same $48,000 a
year he did when he took office.
To some readers these salaries seem to be
high. They are not when you consider the
responsibilities involved in the offices and the
need to pay enough to attract competent peo
ple.
Failure to keep the amount paid to Warner
Robins’ full-time mayor and Houston County’s
full-time chairman at present levels could
result in some outstanding leaders refusing to
seek the offices because of financial sacrifice.
Good chief executives are hard to find. It is
not crowded at the top. It is crowded only at the
bottom of the ladder.
The next time we vote for chief executives for
the city of Warner Robins and Houston County
we should have an opportunity to choose from
the best talent available.
HOWTO
SUBMIT LETTBtS
We encourage readers to submit letters to the
editor. Letters should not exceed 350 words and
Leeburn reappointment is a big disappointment
So much for the New
Georgia that Gov. Sonny
Perdue promised us. Right
now, New Georgia looks a lot
like the old one. The gover
nor has reappointed Don
Leeburn, the controversial
Columbus liquor dealer, to
another seven-year term on
• the Board of Regents, prov
ing that money talks as
loudly to Republicans as it
does to Democrats.
Leeburn is an equal
opportunity fat-cat contrib
utor, as attested by the fact
that he has been extremely
generous to sitting gover
nors. Democratic governor
Zell Miller appointed and
reappointed him to the pow
erful board that oversees
Georgia’s 34 universities
and colleges. Now
Republican Gov. Sonny
Perdue has followed suit.
Setting policy for institu
tions of higher education in
Georgia isn’t about what
you know; it is about who
you know.
must include the writer’s name, address and tele
phone number. All letters printed in The Home
Journal will appear with the writer’s name and
hometown - we do not publish anonymous let
ters. The newspaper reserves the right to edit or
reject letters for reasons of grammar, punctua
tion, taste and brevity. Letter writers are asked to
Dick Yarbrough
Columnist
yarb24oo@bellsouth.net
The governor’s PR flack,
Heather Hendrick, defended
the indefensible appoint
ment. “Gov. Perdue makes
these decisions based on an
individual’s job perform
ance, his qualifications and
his educational philosophy.
Mr. Leebem has done an
excellent job on the Board of
Regents and for the univer
sity system, for the state of
For future generations, not mine
Considering my age, I
don’t have a dog in the fight
over whether Social Security
should be “saved” through
some kind of action.
I remember when Bill
Clinton was president he
said there was a crisis.
Leaders of the Democratic
Party in Congress joined in
the alarm over the prospect
of Social Security becoming
insolvent in a few years.
President Bush is on a
crusade, claiming that
Social Security will face a
crisis within a few years and
that it will be necessary to
reduce benefits when it
occurs.
To keep the folks now
receiving Social Security
benefits and everyone 55
and over from panicking,
President Bush has assured
them that they will not be
affected by any reform that
he might propose.
Democrats in Congress -
the same ones who joined
President Clinton in declar
ing there was a crisis - now
accuse the president of
being an alarmist and they
say there is no threat of a
crisis.
Aggressive agenda for the Congress, American people
President Bush’s State of
the Union Address was one
of the President’s best
speeches ever. Not only did
he lay out an aggressive
agenda for the Congress and
the American people on how
we need to strengthen many
of our domestic programs,
he also delivered an impor
tant update regarding our
efforts to win the war on ter
ror.
The part of the speech
where the President com
mented on Social Security
was critically important.
While this is a difficult issue
to address, we should not
wait until there is an imme
diate crisis and then pass
this crisis on to our children
and grandchildren and
future generations of
Americans.
Right now, we have the
opportunity to begin the
debate on how to strengthen
Social Security for our chil
dren and grandchildren,
while at the same time keep
ing our promise to protect
the system for today’s sen
iors and tomorrow’s
retirees. While there are a
number of specifics that still
need to be addressed, I look
forward to working on this
important issue.
I am also pleased the pres
ident understands the criti
cal need to reform our cur
rent federal tax code. The
federal current tax code is
ridiculously complicated and
Georgia.” Horse patoot.
If Don Leeburn is doing
such an excellent job, why,
after 14 years on the Board
of Regents, did he not know
about the board’s policy
against using university
trademarks on alcoholic
beverages? If he did know,
why then did he openly vio
late those rules by distribut
ing a wine with the UGA
Alumni Association logo
through his company,
Georgia Distributing? And
why did it take the geniuses
at the board six months to
figure out that Leeburn was
violating the rules?
As for Mr. Leebum’s “edu
cational philosophy,” could
that have been honed
through an up-close-and
personal relationship with a
member of the University of
Georgia staff? Leeburn lives
openly with UGA gymnas
tics coach Susan Yoculan,
despite the fact that he has
n’t bothered to divorce his
wife, Betsy, who still resides
jMggg
Foy Evans
Columnist
foyevans 19@cox .net
Could there be a slight
sign of politics involved
here?
As I said, it does not affect
me. If there is a crisis that is
not dealt with it will affect
by grandchildren. Maybe
they will join a host of young
people and write Social
Security off as an old age
security net.
When President Franklin
D. Roosevelt proposed and
convinced Congress to pass
the first Social Security act
no one considered it a retire
ment program. It was
designed as a safety net to
I look forward to working
with the President and my
colleagues in the United
States Senate and the U.S.
House of Representatives to
reform the current system
to one that is: simple, con
sistent and fair.
While so many American
presidents throughout our
nation’s history have deliv
ered a State of the Union
speech to the American peo
ple and share their vision
and agenda for the coming
year, I found President
Bush’s recent address one of
submit no more than one letter per person per
week. We cannot guarantee that a letter will be
printed on a specific date.
The Home Journal prefers that letters be
typed. Letters to the editor are published in the
order they are received as space permits.
in Columbus. Details.
Details. Maybe this doesn’t
bother the governor or the
university administration,
but it bothers the hell out of
me. Doesn’t anybody else
think these two lovebirds
aren’t exactly the kind of
people we want to hold up as
role models to our young
people? My momma would
have called what Leeburn
and Yoculan are doing
“tacky.” And my momma
would have been correct.
Imagine the furor if a
female member of the Board
of Regents set up play
housekeeping with the UGA
football coach or basketball
coach while still married.
There would be a roar of
righteous indignation from
Rabun Gap to Tybee Light.
But because it is deep-pock
eted Don Leeburn, you
won’t hear a peep out of the
Board of Regents, the UGA
administration or, evidently,
the governor’s office. See no
help recipients make ends
meet.
Ironically, not many peo
ple living at the time - back
in the late 1930 s - expected
to live long enough to collect
Social Security benefits.
Setting the age of 65 to
become eligible to collect
Social Security was
President Roosevelt’s way of
making sure it would be sol
vent and not many people
would collect. Sixty-five was
very old then and not many
people expected to live that
long.
We’re living longer today.
Average life expectancy now
is in the seventies. It is not
unusual for older people to
collect Social Security bene
fits 20 years or more. I have.
A good way to help keep
Social Security solvent in
years to come is to raise the
age when people are eligible
to receive benefits into the
seventies. It probably won’t
happen. Political courage is
a commodity that is in very
short supply.
President Bush’s proposal
to permit young people to
use part of the money they
pay into the Social Security
his best speeches ever.
President Bush laid out a
very aggressive agenda to
strengthen our domestic
programs and remained
committed to American’s
efforts to fighting and win
ning the war on terror.
The president also made it
clear that he plans to tackle
many tough issues in his
second term and I look for
ward to working with him to
get things done for the
American people.
There are three ways to submit a letter to the
editor: E-mail it to hhj@evansnewspapers.com,
mail it to The Houston Home Journal at P.O. Box
1910, Perry, GA 31069, or drop it off at 1210
Washington St. in Perry - between 8 a.m. and 5
p.m. Monday through Friday.
evil. Hear no evil. Speak no
evil.
Leeburn had six members
of UGA’s women’s gymnas
tics team and Yoculan flown
to New York on his private
jet for a weekend of R&R, in
clear violation of NCAA
rules. His excuse? “There
was a claim that it was a sec
ondary violation of NCAA
Rule 16.02.3. Has anyone
ever read that rule?” I would
hope a regent with 14 years
experience would have, and
if he hadn’t, that he would
have the common sense to
check it out with the athlet
ics department before firing
up the jet. Even Sheila the
Family Wonder Dog knows
that athletic matters must
first go through the office of
UGA Athletics Director
Damon Evans for approval,
and Sheila’s only awake four
hours a day.
Leeburn blames the media
for his high and not-so-
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
program to finance private
investment accounts. It
would not be compulsory.
Anyone with a modicum of
knowledge about the stock
market knows that it will
outperform what the gov
ernment is doing now by a
big margin. However, char
latans who are opposed to
anything that President
Bush might propose have a
good chance of keeping it
from happening.
Any sensible person real
izes that there will have to
be strong safeguards and
guidelines to protect young
people from themselves. Not
many of them have the
slightest relationship with
fiscal responsibility.
Whether President Bush
succeeds in his attempt to
reform and save Social
Security as we know it will
not be known until months
of bruising political infight
ing. Whether he succeeds
will mean nothing to my
generation. If young people
do not get behind the presi
dent the Social Security
security blanket probably
will not be there when they
need it.
llylyL
***** ”***"*• a
Saxby Chambliss
U.S. Senator
R-Georgia
admirable profile. After the
Atlanta newspapers called
on the governor not to reap
point him, Leeburn huffed,
“It is a badge of honor that
The Atlanta Journal-
Constitution doesn’t want
me reappointed. I don’t
share its warped liberal
agenda - and I make no
apology for that.” More
horse patoot. This has noth
ing to do with warped liber
al agendas. It has to do with
a regent acting as if he is
accountable to no one and
being able to get away with
it because he has lots of
money. I don’t share the
Atlanta newspapers’ liberal
agenda either, but this time
we happen to be on the same
page. Don Leeburn should
never have been reappoint
ed to the Board of Regents.
You can reach Dick
Yarbrough at
yarb24oo@bellsouth.net,
P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta,