Newspaper Page Text
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♦ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 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 •
Get Rid Ot Those Signs
A Middle Georgia legislator wants a law that
would do away with those billboards along
Interstate 75, which say loud and clear, “We Bare
All.”
His crusade is to get rid of these signs, which
call attention in this area to a nude dancing
establishment at Exit 146, which is the exit for
Centerville and Warner Robins.
He says that he doesn’t want to have to explain
to his children what the “We Bare All” on the
signs means.
There are many reasons to eliminate these
signs. They are ugly. They are suggestive. They
are in bad taste. They clutter the landscape along
the interstate.
Opposition to a law banning such signs lean on
freedom of speech as a reason to leave them
alone.
We don’t believe that speech will be limited to
any dangerous extent by removing these signs
along the interstate.
In our opinion, most people would applaud
removal of the signs.
They Are Beyond Beliet
A suicide bomber drove his car into a crowd in a
town south of Baghdad early this week and killed
106 people and injured almost 150.
How do you cope with people like this suicide
bomber? How do you understand them? Normal
human beings want to live. The young men - and
women - who forfeit their lives to commit suicide
and to deliver a death dealing blow to their ene
mies have been brainwashed and believe that
they will be rewarded in Heaven.
Those of us in the Western World, where life is
precious, cannot comprehend them. Nor do we
know how to cope with them.
Good intelligence has prevented many potential
suicide bombings, we are told. New recruits seem
to be easy to find.
But as long as weak-minded young people can
be brainwashed into such unbelievable acts of vio
lence there will be more acts of this kind.
An interesting thing to note is that the Islamic
leaders who are sending these young men and
women to their deaths in the name of Allah con
veniently never volunteer for the job.
It is easy for them to send others to their
deaths. It is easy for them to preach hate while
hiding in a safe place.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Urge lawmakers to
oppose bill
Editor:
House Bill 218, “relating
to public records exempted
from inspection by members
of the general public,” is a
socially regressive bill that
is not in accord with
Georgia’s “sunshine act” or
with our values of honest,
open and progressive gov
ernment.
The tendencies we are
seeing lately toward restric
Freedom Isn't free and
I see where one of our
courageous state legislators
is gunning for big game.
Steve Davis has decided to
gird his loins, pick up a bag
of smooth river rocks, and
smite the mighty Case
Erotica billboard Goliath.
Good luck.
If the outdoor advertising
industry in Georgia is any
thing like it was in
Tennessee, they got more
money than Trump and
enough constitutional law
mouthpieces on retainer to
choke a mule.
The interstates in the
Volunteer State are overrun
with billboards which, I am
forced by all honesty to
admit, block out a lot pretti
er scenery than do the ones
tion of freedom of informa
tion and misuse of powers of
eminent domain are not
healthy signs for property
owners or for our free enter
prise system.
You have a right to know
about potential land trans
actions that may affect the
value, future use, and even
the safety and healthfulness
of your own property. Please
urge your legislators to vote
against it.
Kristina Simms
Perry
Timothy Graham
Staff Writer
tgraham@evansnewspapers.com
advertising “We Bare All.”
Efforts have been made over
the years to harvest some of
these billboards, but they
always seem to die a quiet
death in the state legisla
She loves the nightlife and I want sleep
ZZZZZ. If you’re hearing
this sound at night with any
regularity, then chances are
you don’t live with an 8-
month-old. That’s certainly
true at my house, where
daughter Beth has been log
ging several hours each
night wide awake, doing
baby things. It’s almost as if
she’s somehow gotten stuck
on Hawaii time! The amaz
ing thing is that she doesn’t
seem to compensate for all
that lost sleep with an extra
nap during the day. The
Energizer Bunny has found
a replacement!
This sad state of affairs
has been going on now for
three months, which is to
say forever. If you don’t
think Einstein was right
when he talked about the
relativity of time, just try
watching the clock crawl by
at 3:30 in the morning while
waiting for Baby to fall
asleep. And yet, somehow,
while the minutes tick by
with stubborn slowness
while Baby is awake, they
fly by with wild abandon
when Baby is asleep. “What,
it’s seven o’clock already!”
Looking for yard sales and other landmarks
The National Alliance for
Mentally Impaired of
Central Georgia is getting
ready for another of their
popular yard sales.
The group welcomes any
donations for the event
which is set to be held April
9 at their workshop building
on Elberta Road.
If you have items you
would donate, just call 929-
9444.
• • •
I have a friend who is also
getting ready for a yard sale
... the Peaches to Beaches
Yard Sale that will stretch
along U.S 341 from Perry to
the coast.
Do not let this one sneak
up on you if you are a yard
sale fan. I know we have not
heard much about it on this
end, but it is coming up in
just a couple of weeks from
March 11 through 13.
I wonder if Val and Dave,
that funny duo from a tele
vision show that visits such
events has been put on alert
about this one?
• • •
Some folks in Perry might
not get excited about having
this team feature their town
on a show centered around
yard sales but, really, it is
OK. Charleston, S.C., has
been featured and it is an
extremely classy town that
did not receive a smudge on
its nose from such publicity.
• • •
I was shocked when my
daughter called me a few
days ago to tell me someone
wished to talk with me ... or
at least to me.
I did not have a clue what
she was talking about until I
heard a scratchy voice com
ing over the line telling me I
could wear her high heels to
school.
What a blast from the
past!
My daughter had taken
ture. Coincidentally enough,
at the same time, a new crop
of BMWs and Mercedes pop
up in the parking garage
next to the Capitol Building
in Nashville.
This is not to say that the
capos in charge of the out
door advertising industry in
the Peach State have any
great love for strip clubs. It
is just that they have
enough sense to know that if
you start telling one busi
ness they cannot advertise
on billboards, it is a small
step down a slippery slope to
saying that no business can
advertise on a billboard.
And that threat will open
up some mighty big wallets
and probably make the own
ers of the BMW and
Mercedes dealerships in
JL i -
........
Joe Bishop
Columnist
joe@wnng.mgacoxmail.com
Seems the rally cry for those
called to duty in the middle
of the night by our kinder is
“Hit the snooze button -
five more minutes.”
At first wife I'eresa and I
were powerless to cope with
Beth’s newly embraced love
of the nightlife. For weeks
we’d walk around, bleary
eyed and yawning, zombies
to Beth’s schedule. It was an
ongoing audition for “Dawn
of the Dead Tired.” Our day
time jobs began to suffer,
not to mention our patience
and our sex life. Then, some
Emily Johnstone
Columnist
ejohnstone@evansnewspapers.com
my recent reminiscing about
a doll I had during childhood
seriously, gone to the eßay
website and found a
Charming Chatty!
She is a gorgeous red
haired circa 1961 Charming
Chatty with a record stuck
in her side that still works.
And even though she was
"Oh, the shame of it! How dare they taint
the wonderful Democrat map we drew with crass politics!"
sometimes isn't pretty
Atlanta dream of new vaca
tion homes on the Georgia
Coast.
Personally, I consider
almost all billboard advertis
ing objectionable. They get
in the way of the scenery
and basically junk up the
landscape. Those nice little
signs which tell you what
kind of gas station, restau
rants or sleeping facilities
are coming up at the next
exit are good enough for me.
But there are some busi
nesses that thrive on the
interstate traffic and depend
on billboard advertising to
get cars to come off the high
way and visit their estab
lishments. I will not place
my desire to see unobstruct
ed scenery above their need
where along the way, we
developed, quite by accident,
several coping strategies. If
we were to be forced into the
role of contestants on
“Survivor: Baby,” then we
better get serious about it.
We learned that, while both
of us might be reasonably
competent at all baby relat
ed tasks during the day, in
the wee hours there were
things one of us could do
much better than the other.
We gravitated to our natural
strengths, and tag teamed
the childcare duties. For
example, I’m better skilled
at rocking the baby back to
sleep (I can usually cut
Teresa’s best time in hall:),
while my wife manages to
fill baby bottles and medi
cine droppers without
spilling half the contents on
the kitchen counter, a task
at which I remain incredibly
inept. We’ve learned which
rhythm puts Beth to sleep
fastest when we rock her,
and we now understand that
you can’t microwave a bottle
to warm it with the plastic
nipple still attached. Physics
works the same way at 2
still packed in her box and
stuck in the back of a closet
when I picked her up
(“She’s freaky looking,” my
daughter told me) and
laughed at by my son when
he saw her (“That is one
ugly doll,” he commented as
I covered her ears) she is
getting a new wardrobe and
has her hair tended to most
every day.
She might not be as pretty
as today’s dolls, but I simply
cannot describe the feeling
of getting back a happy part
of my childhood when I hold
her.
• • •
Meanwhile, though Rick
does not comment on her
one way or the other, he has
warned that Oscar the cat
might get jealous and “take
care of the doll.”
I certainly hope he is not
planning something that he
blames on the cat!
to advertise their wares.
And it seems to me that as
long as Case Erotica has a
legitimate business license
to provide its services, it
should have the right to
advertise alongside Aunt
Sue’s Antiques and
McDonald’s.
And that gets us to the
crux of the matter.
It would seem to me that if
Rep. Davis has a gripe with
anyone, it is not with the
advertising company that
sold billboard space to Case
Erotica. His gripe should be
with the lawmakers in
Peach County that allowed
the business to open up in
the first place.
Now I don’t know the his
tory of the business, and it
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
a.m. as it does at 2 p.m.!
So here we remain, in the
midst of a nightly holding
pattern of sleeplessness,
comforting ourselves with
the thought that it can’t go
on much longer. I’m sure
we’ll look back on this time
16 years from now, when
Teresa and I are again up in
the wee hours of the night,
waiting on our daughter to
return from a date, and
smile ruefully. She always
did like the nightlife, we’ll
remember. All things come
full circle. And the experi
ence hasn’t been a complete
waste, as it’s brought hus
band and wife closer togeth
er, taught us we can be
tough when the times
demand it, and given us
extra bonding time (even if
half awake) with our pre
cious little girl.
Besides, I now know the
names of all the night crew
on the Weather Channel.
That has to count for some
thing!
Joe Bishop is the news
director for WNNG 1350
AM, Houston County’s only
locally-owned radio station.
• • •
As part of Women’s
History Month, Secretary of
State Cathy Cox will speak
at Wesleyan College in
Macon March 12 at 3 p.m.
• • •
Thanks to Irene Hamer
who shed some more light
on the sand cranes that
were spotted flying over
Houston County recently on
their trip north.
She shares the reason the
birds circle over Houston
Lake, or other landmarks,
like “someone shuffling a
deck of cards.”
One bird knows one leg of
the trip and at that point
they shuffle until the bird
that knows the next part of
the trip is in the lead, and so
forth until the journey is
complete.
She learned that from Ron
Huntley, who studies birds.
may be that Peach County
has tried to shut the place
down many times over the
years and has failed, but as
long as the business is open
legally, I see no way you can
single it out for an advertis
ing ban.
Freedom isn’t free and
sometimes it isn’t pretty.
Sometimes you have to take
the bitter with the sweet,
and the price for free speech
and all that is sometimes
you have to hear your young
son or daughter ask what it
means to “bare all.”
And maybe in the long run
the folks at Case Erotica are
doing you a favor; because it
may be better that you get
that conversation over with
now than when it is too late.