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♦ FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2005
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OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
President,
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
A Public Relations Problem
The Houston County Board of Education has a
public relations problem on its hands as a result of
a routine purchase.
The system’s purchasing agent asked for bids to
purchase 15 new school buses. The low bid came in
a little more than $13,000 below its competitor.
The school board purchased from the low bidder.
Nothing wrong with that, you say.
Over 400 Houston Countians who work for Blue
Bird Corporation in Fort Valley may be upset.
Throughout the county people are asking whether
the school board should have made the million-dol
lar purchase from a Middle Georgia company with
so many employees living in Houston County, even
though it failed to submit the low bid.
This is a tough one to answer.
It was the school board’s call. No one can chal
lenge their right to make the purchase from a North
Carolina company instead of Blue Bird.
School officials say it is their responsibility to get
the best price because they are expected to spend
taxpayer money wisely.
From the feedback we are receiving this may be a
subject that will be debated for some time to come.
It’s tough to be a public servant at times like
these.
Robins May Re Winner
President Bush’s proposed budget for the next fis
cal year has good news and bad news for Robins Air
Force Base.
On balance it may contain good news because
there is no money for more Joint STARS planes,
which are maintained at Robins. However, older
Joint STARS aircraft may need more maintenance,
adding to the workload at the base.
For the first time in many years there was very lit
tle construction money in the budget for Robins -
only $2 million, a pittance compared with former
years.
We can take comfort in the words of U.S. Sen.
Saxby Chambliss, who said that he does not believe
that the budget gives any indication that Robins
will feel the axe in the forthcoming BRAC (base
realignment and closure) process.
HOW TO SUBMIT LETTERS
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should not exceed 350 words and must include the writer’s
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space permits. A Journal employee will call to verify the author
of each letter.
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.
The party on the left doesn't have a clue
The week before the Jan.
30 Iraqi election, Sen. Ted
Kennedy branded Iraq a
hopeless quagmire. “Bush’s
Vietnam,” Kennedy bel
lowed.
“Quagmire.” “Vietnam.”
“Bush.” Indeed, the
Massachusetts senator’s
dire sermon invoked his fun
damentalist faith’s demons
old and demons au courant.
Sen. Barbara Boxer joined
the snake dance, adding her
own poisonous sanctimony.
The Iraqi people, braving
car bombs and waving ink
stained fingers, demonstrat
ed that Ted is more than a
bit “tetched,” to use the col
loquial term. Iraqis weren’t
going to miss the chance to
damn Saddam’s legacy of
theft, murder, thuggery and
war.
Beltway political experts
explain Kennedy’s action as
a tactical political gamble.
See, Bay, ole Ted was simply
staking out political territo
ry. If the Iraqi elections
failed - as the conventional
media wisdom said they
Rex Gambill
Managing Editor
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
Austin Bay
Military Affairs
Creators Syndicate
would - he was positioned to
“take the moral high
ground” from the Bush
administration. “Moral high
ground,” accompanied by
appropriate friendly media
magnification, would trans
late into the political power
to dominate the Bush
administration.
It’s tactical, Bay, tactical.
No, it’s sad. It’s blind. It’s
also bitterly small. That’s
why I pity Mr. Kennedy.
Jan. 30 was crunch time
Just like
The way it has been told
to me is that they would ride
and talk and “Mr. Ed” would
drive and the talking, with
“Blood” doing his share,
would take precedence over
Mr. Ed,s driving and hilari
ous things would be said and
done and often the Cadillac
would end up in a field or
across a ditch and all in all it
would be a fine and festive
occasion, or should I say
occasions, as it apparently
happened many times.
The “Mr. Ed” would be
the grandfather of Ed
Beckham 11, from whom I
get much of my information
about his namesake, and
“Blood” or “Old Blood”
would be Mr. John
Bloodworth, Perry grocer,
attorney, and politician. All
three at the same time, and
with the law office and gro
cery store in the same
Carroll Street location.
And Billy Bledsoe and I
will ride and talk, with Billy
doing more than his share of
the talking, and with my
doing most of the driving,
and he will say, “we’re just
like Mr. Ed and Mr.
Bloodworth.” And he will
know of what he speaks - or
at least he will convince me
that he does - and when we
are together, riding and
talking, it will be a fine and
festive occasion.
And so, recently, we rode
HHJ carrier deserves kudos
Editor:
For over a year now, I have stopped
by the store every morning on my way
to work, at the base for my morning
coffee and a copy of your newspaper. I
prefer it because, as you mentioned in
the Sunday edition, this is a communi
ty paper and I like to know what is
going on around my town. 1 also like
what you said about shining the spot
light on people and activities of the
community. This letter is to turn the
spotlight onto a person who is very
important to me (and the community)
as well as to you and your company. I
am speaking of one of your carriers. I
see this woman almost every morning.
She has been out there in torrential
rain storms when a lot of roads were
flooded and closed, been there when
she was very sick, worked out in tem
peratures well below freezing, and
even took risk in the ice storm last
weekend. This is not a task that most
people would do. Yet through it all she
has always had a smile on her face, a
kind word to say, and a cheerful atti
tude. As a vital part of what makes
your organization tick, I am sure that
you have shown to her your apprecia
tion but I also want to applaud this
person on her dedication and to say a
very big thank you.
Keep up the good work, both of you.
Sharon Higgins
Warner Robins
Editorial misleading
Editor:
I believe that unless the Congress
has recently passed a law to the con
trary, your editorial on Feb. 2 is mis
leading. Your comments about
Mexican workers receiving benefits
for the people of Iraq. The
War on Terror is crunch
time for the 21st century. We
are living in a moment that
really matters, when blood,
sweat, toil and tears fueled
by hope and courage can lay
the political foundation for a
more just and prosperous
century.
With the exception of Joe
Lieberman, the Democratic
Party’s senior leaders have
either vacillated in their
support or been dead wrong
about Iraq. This doesn’t
bode well for the United
States. Last July, I met
Lieberman at a reception in
Baghdad. I told him I wished
he were the Democratic
nominee for president. He
smiled wryly and said he
wished he was, too.
Lieberman gets it. He
understands the stakes and
appreciates the risks, but he
also understands the oppor
tunities. He’s an armed lib
eral in the tradition of
Harry Truman and
Franklin Delano Roosevelt -
and, for that matter, John
Mr. Ed and Mr. Bloodworth
Larry Walker
Columnist
lwalker<®whgbc .com
and talked. And as we rode
on the Dr. A.G. Hendrick
Bridge over Big Indian
Creek, he (Billy) started a
story. This being unusual
only in the sense that I
thought I had heard all of
his tales several times. But
this one was new and inter
esting - at least, to me,
being the only one benefit
ing from his oracular utter
ances, it was interesting.
Interesting enough that I
want to share it with you.
Billy’s tale had to do with
the Big Indian Creek and
Mr. Jimmy Gooden - Mr.
Gooden being the principal
of Perry High School before
’Fessor Staples, and later
with the state Department
of Education and finally as
Executive Director of
Perry’s Chamber of
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
after only six quarters are incomplete
as stated. There are ongoing discus
sions that would allow combining work
quarters in both countries to deter
mine eligibility for benefits in either.
The agreement signed in June 2004
is referred to as “totalization” and cov
ers Mexican citizens who worked in
the U.S. legally, paid into the Social
Security system, and afterwards
moved back home. It also would
remove from U.S. citizens working for
U.S. companies in Mexico the burden
of paying Social Security taxes to both
countries and likewise for Mexican cit
izens working for Mexican companies
in the United States. The totalization
concept is not new: there are currently
20 or so other countries with which the
U.S. has similar agreements.
The agreement also will improve
Social Security coverage for people
who work in both countries. Currently,
there are those who have worked in
F SUOULtS WE TALK ABOUT MY /“T^
( gt/MM. J '' J
Kennedy.
America needs the
Democratic Party of
Truman and FDR - and
that’s a party willing to drop
A-bombs and “bear any
price” for freedom on the
planet. Instead, the
Democratic National
Committee infects itself
with Mad How disease, the
political bacillus spread by
Park Avenue’s Typhoid
Mary of ulcerous anger,
“Mad How”-ard Dean.
This is a serious strategic
illness. Symptoms include
lack of spine, especially
when sustaining interna
tional action to defeat tyran
ny and terror. There are
some humorous side effects:
As the disease progresses
leftward, particularly
among bi-coastal and aca
demic elites, a desire to
recast America as France
emerges.
The more extreme mani
festations include activist
nostalgia for 1960 s narco
politics, where gray-haired
profs with rant
Commerce and by all
accounts, a fine and good
man. Truthful, too. I wish
he was alive to verify Billy’s
story. According to Billy,
when Billy was a young man
of high school age, Mr.
Gooden took Billy with him
to where the Big Indian
Creek runs into the
Ocmulgee River in Pulaski
County. And somewhere just
before the confluences of
these two waterways and
back up Big Indian toward
Perry, Mr. Gooden fished for
and caught striper bass!
Now for the uneducated,
stripers are a large sport
fish that if in Big Indian had
to come from the Atlantic
Ocean. This was the first
time I ever heard of anyone
catching stripers in Big
Indian Creek!
And I would chastise Billy
for telling an untruth -
which, if Mother was not a
regular reader, I would call
lying - and we fussed and
Billy said “we’re acting just
like Mr. Ed and Mr.
Bloodworth.” And then we
talked, again, about these
two - characters of charac
ter from Houston County.
John Bloodworth, attor
ney at law. With his law
office in the back of his gro
cery store about where the
Perry Book Store is today.
And in addition to dispens
ing sardines and onions and
about - you guessed it -
“quagmires” and
“Vietnam.”
“Left-wing denial” has
become a redundant phrase,
just like “left-wing
defeatism.” Remember,
Afghanistan was supposed
to be a quagmire. Millions
would die in the harsh
Himalayan winter. Instead,
U.S. forces and Afghan allies
quickly drove the Taliban
from power and A 1 Qaeda’s
claim to “divine sanction”
for its war against America
went poof. The October
2004 Afghan election rati
fied the victory.
The Vietnam War - so
costly and destructive - was
strategic defense, a Cold
War attempt to buy time
while avoiding nuclear con
flict until the Soviet Union
“mellowed,” to use George
Kennan’s phrase.
Iraq, like Afghanistan, is
part of a strategic political
and military offensive
directed at the dictators and
genocidal ideologues whose
design for the 21st century
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
dispensing legal advice, rep
resenting Houston County
in the General Assembly.
And Mr. Ed Beckham build
ing roads, including Elko
Road, all over Georgia and
saying and doing funny
things and being a character
but also a first class citizen.
And the patriarch of a fami
ly of first-class citizens.
The Lord willing, Billy
and I will ride, again, and
visit, again. And, I will fuss
at him and he will correct
me, and he will say, “we’re
just like Mr. Ed and Mr.
Bloodworth.” And I will say,
“did I ever tell you about Ed
ll’s telling me that he and
Johnny Mobley (Mr.
Bloodworth’s grandson)
rode their Shetland ponies
right through Mr.
Bloodworth’s store in the
back and out the front and
through his law office, too, I
guess. Stopping only at the
candy case, and without dis
mounting getting goodies
out of the dispensing jar and
ultimately tethering their
ponies across Carroll Street
at the bicycle rack in front of
Houston Drug Company?”
And Billy will say, “not more
than a dozen times.” And we
will say, “we’re acting just
like Mr. Ed and Mr.
Bloodworth!” Which, when
you think about it, is proba
bly a compliment to both of
us.
both the United States and Mexico
that fail to qualify for Social Security
benefits from either country. Under
this agreement, workers can qualify
for prorated U.S. or Mexican benefits
based on combined credits from both
countries. Most significantly, unless
approved by Congress, those who con
tinue to work in the U.S. illegally
would have no recourse for claiming
Social Security benefits under the
agreement. I understand that this sin
gle item is being pushed by Mexican
negotiators, and rumors abound on
this particular issue.
Threatening removal of any Social
Security benefits is a popular banner
for politicians, even in non-election
years, and with the current hoopla sur
rounding the Social Security fund, I
would hope that Congress will not
approve any law that would discrimi
nate against citizens of either country.
Jerry Willis
Perry
is 12th century autocracy
imposed by death squads,
men in turbans and nukes.
China’s Mao Tse-Tung
wrote that guerrillas are fish
swimming in the sea of the
people. Translation: It takes
popular support to sustain a
genuine guerrilla conflict.
The Saddmist thugs and A 1
Qaeda zealots who kill Iraqi
civilians and coalition troops
are reactionaries with scant
political appeal. They are
murderers, not soldiers in a
wider people’s war.
Check the ink-stained fin
gers - the Iraqi elections
demonstrated just how
politically marginal these
fascists are.
Ted Kennedy and Howard
Dean can’t hear that, can’t
see that. Saddled with
defeatism and blinded by
cynicism, their old-time ‘6os
political religion is now the
quagmire.
To find out more about
Austin Bay, visit the
Creators Syndicate web page
at www.creators.com.