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♦ THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 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
Edenfield Steps Dorn
Billy G. Edenfield is stepping down as president of
Middle Georgia Technical College and we are
among those who applaud him for a remarkable 15
years of progress at the school under his leadership.
MGTC has grown every year since Edenfield took
charge. He has led with vision and dedication.
Many friends and associates gathered last Friday
evening to heap praise on Edenfield and thank him
for the outstanding leadership he has provided as
MGTC has met the ever-growing need for education
only this kind of institution can provide.
Edenfield has provided strong leadership tem
pered with compassion and concern for the students
who have sought their educations at MGTC.
His shoes will be hard to fill. He came along at the
right time and proved to be the right person to led
the school at a time of change.
Recognition Is Deserved
Not enough attention is given to scholarly
achievements. There are no playing fields sur
rounded by stands. There are no bands playing.
There is not the roar of the crowd as students excel.
But there should be.
Students who excel deserve praise. They deserve
plaudits. They deserve more of the spotlight than
they usually get.
One student who deserves the spotlight is Nathan
Westray, a Bert Rumble Middle School eighth-grad
er.
He won the school spelling bee. He won the
Houston County spelling bee. And he won the dis
trict spelling bee. Now he will participate in the
state spelling bee.
This is no small accomplishment. His success is a
tribute to his hard work and determination to suc
ceed.
We salute Nathan. And we wish him well in the
state spelling bee. He already has proven himself to
be a real winner worthy of the kind of attention
given to athletes who perform in stadiums filled
with loud crowds.
This time he will perform before a large audience
in Atlanta and on television. The crowd noise will
be muted, but the appreciation for the accomplish
ments of all the contestants will be obvious.
Thanks, but no thanks
Editor:
I would just like to say thanks to the
Houston County Board of Education. We
appreciate that we can count on you when
we need you.
My husband has been a Blue Bird employ
ee for over 20 years. He has worked his fin
gers to the bone to make good, quality, and
safe buses, along with all the other Blue
Bird employees.
I don’t know what to think about the buy
ing of buses again from someone other than
Blue Bird. I was born and raised and still
live in Houston County. I appreciated the
fact that we could count on our businesses
and people, etc. taking pride in spending
their money in our community or at the
least in state, but that idea has been disput
ed!
Exclusive: A look at upcoming specialty auto tags
The legislature has
announced plans to create a
new automobile tag to bene
fit arts groups. If passed into
law, the tags would be avail
able ' in 2006 for $25.
Proceeds would go to arts
programs in the counties
where the tags are pur
chased.
The arts tag would join a
list of other specialty tags in
Georgia that include every
thing from wildflowers to
dog and cat sterilization,
and universities across the
state ranging from
Savannah State in the south
to Gainesville’s Brenau
University in the north (and
including the University of
Georgia, the oldest state
chartered university in the
nation, located in Athens,
the Classic City of the
South). We have tags for vet
erans, ham radio operators,
teachers, wildlife enthusi
asts and antique motorcycle
I understand that you wanted to spend
the taxpayers’ money wisely. Well, how wise
ly do you think taxpayers’ money was spent
on the Houston County Board of Education
building?? Everyone should just take a walk
inside and check it out. Taxpayers’ money
well spent for something you wanted.
I wonder how much of the money spent
for the buses at Thomas-Freightliner is
going" to taxes in North Carolina. Not only
that but how much of a boost does it give the
Highpoint community in North Carolina.
Over a million-dollar contract sure would
have been good for Blue Bird Body Company
and this community. Thanks for helping out
the people in North Carolina and their com
munity and not your own areas.
I am both a taxpayer and a voter in this
community. I will never vote again to help
the HCBOE do anything in this community
again.
Dick Yarbrough
Columnist
yarb24oo@hellsouth.net
hobbyists.
You would think that the
state has run out of people,
places and things to honor.
You would be wrong. I have
in my hands the list of pro
posed specialty state tags
that you can expect to see in
coming years.
The President Peanut tag.
This tag would be shaped
They think it is great, but we don't buy it
ABC wants to lure more
viewers to their Oscar tele
casts. So they put a foul
mouthed comedian up on
stage as MC, permitted him
to ridicule our president,
talk trash talk, and bring
the show down to the level
of what appears to have
become much of America.
No doubt they attracted
new viewers, those who long
ago forsook decency in favor
of vulgarity and gutter
humor. Maybe that is what
the Oscars show needs.
Perhaps the audience that
has followed the Oscars
since its inception is too
straight-laced for today’s
show business and televi
sion.
Big city audiences appar
ently liked the show. Middle
America rejected it.
Audience was down more
than 2 million.
Hollywood just doesn’t
understand real Americans.
• • •
Someday somebody is
going to have to do some
thing about the huge
amounts of water standing
in ditches along Watson
Boulevard from Carl Vinson
Parkway west where there
I
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
like a goober and honors for
mer President Jimmy
Carter. It is recommended
for drivers who are sancti
monious and who constantly
second-guess other drivers.
The I Am a Proud
Republican tag. This tag will
have no information on it. If
you want the license num
ber, you will have to wait
until the car is sold and then
the information will be
made available to you 90
days later. Expect brisk sales
to members of the Georgia
Chamber of Commerce.
The I Am a Proud
Democrat tag. With its
unique design incorporating
a pizza with anchovies, a six
pack of beer and a car partly
submerged in water, this tag
proudly salutes the revered
patron saint of the
Democratic Party, Ted
Kennedy.
The Liberal Weenie tag
will be available only to
transplanted Yankees who
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Foy Evans
Columnist
foye vans 19@cox.net
has been commercial devel
opment. Right now these
ditches look like wonderful
breeding grounds for mos
quitoes next summer.
• • •
I hate to see young people
get into trouble, but the two
juveniles who called in bomb
threats for high schools in
the county were old enough
to know better. This breach
of good judgment should not
ruin their lives and hopeful
ly the punishment they are
receiving will be a reminder
to others that there is a
price to be paid for what
they might foolishly believe
The wife of a Blue Bird Body
Company employee,
Denise Posey
Illegal to desecrate graves
Editor:
We all die. Our relatives and immediate
family members die. Many times there are
people (contractors and farmers) that do not
think how we feel if our family has a ceme
tery that is demolished or plowed up. My
question is: How would you feel if your par
ent’s, brother’s or sister’s grave was demol
ished after paying money to have it dug, a
tombstone engraved and put there? That is
a symbol also of their life.
Teenagers and young people sometimes in a
whim, dare destroy or desecrate these
graves. Families should talk with them
regarding dignity, responsibility and caring.
look down their noses at
Southerners, but wouldn’t
move back North on a bet
because it snows there 10
months a year and every
body hollers when they talk.
For an extra 10 bucks, John
Kerry will personally auto
graph the tag. For a pizza
and a six-pack, Ted Kennedy
will personally autograph
the tag.
The Bible Thumper tag is
expected to sell very well in
Georgia. Its primary appeal
is to Southern Baptists who
hyperventilate over women
preachers, but are strangely
mute when their brother in
the governor’s office reap
points a high-profile regent
who lives openly with anoth
er woman even though he is
married to someone else.
For an extra 10 bucks, a
copy of the Ten
Commandments will be
included with the tag and
hand-delivered by a female
is a harmless joke.
• • •
Identity theft is big news
today. A person’s life can be
ruined if someone steals
their identity. It is possible
the confusion never will be
cleared up. We can take pre
cautions galore, but reality
is that we are at the mercy
of hundreds, possibly thou
sands, of computers all over
the country with informa
tion about us ready to be
stolen by a clever person
with a criminal mind. It is
not reassuring.
• • •
An acquaintance pointed
out something interesting a
few days ago. He purchased
his first home in Warner
Robins 50 years ago this
spring. Recently he built a
new home, which has three
times the square footage as
his starter home. However,
the cost of the new home
was 30 times what he paid
for his first home. Maybe
the new home has more
amenities and is nicer than
the first one, but those num
bers are shocking.
• • •
Nurse practitioners want
the privilege of writing pre
One of the reasons this country is in such
bad shape is parents, brothers and sisters,
aunts, uncles and cousins do not communi
cate these basic needs.
Also, farmers and contractors should con
sider others and not the almighty dollar. It
is against the law to desecrate a grave.
There is a fine and possible imprisonment!
Report this to either the sheriff or local
police. Also, Daughters of the American
Revolution (DAR), local genealogical soci
eties, and complain to county commission
ers and city councils. Do your duty!
Otherwise, your or your families’ graves
may be desecrated!
Some of those graves include Native
Americans - which is historical, or former
military members!
Jeanette Ferguson
Perry
preacher.
The I Love Ice Hockey tag
has been put on hold until
the state can identify the
five people in the state who
would actually consider pur
chasing such a tag.
The I Am a Self-Important
Yuppie-Boomer and You Are
Not tag. To qualify, you
must own an SUV slightly
larger than a Patton tank.
You must always park at an
angle in shopping center
parking lots so that no one
can get in the space next to
you. You will be required to
show proof that you talk on
your cell phone 18 hours a
day and that you never use
your turn signals (that little
doohickey on the side of
your steering wheel). Expect
this tag to be a huge seller.
These are but a few of the
specialty tags currently
under discussion. Others
being considered include a
tag honoring armadillos and
possums run down whiie
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
scriptions. PAs, who work in
doctors’ offices can write
prescriptions, so why not
nurse practitioners?
Regardless of who writes my
prescriptions I check with
my pharmacist for informa
tion on side effects and con
flicts with other medications
I take.
• • •
Wouldn’t it be nice if state
and federal politicians
stopped trying to protect us
from ourselves and settled
down to governing?
• • •
It’s ridiculous that the two
most important topics for
these politicians are abor
tion and homosexuality.
• • •
Vioxx and other
painkilling drugs may be
put back on the market with
FDA approval, but you can
be sure that money-hungry
lawyers (notably those who
advertise for clients on tele
vision) are going to go after
millions of dollars from the
drug manufacturers. And
ignorant jurors will give
them the money, too.
trying to cross 1-16, a salute
to corn-fried shrimp (my
favorite), a “Fergit, Hell”
tag for the two dozen flag
gers who still think they can
get the old state flag on the
ballot and a tag to honor
native Georgians that says
“I May Be a Redneck and
Talk Funny, but at Least I
Don’t Live in California
Where They Have
Earthquakes, Mudslides and
Susan Sarandon.” Finally, I
am told that there may be a
specialty tag honoring news
paper columnists who are
equal-opportunity offenders.
Far be it from me to second
guess the State of Georgia,
but I just can’t imagine any
one who would qualify to
purchase such a tag.
You can reach Dick
Yarbrough at
yarb24oo@bellsouth.net,
P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta,
GA 31139, or Web site:
www.dickyarbrough.com.