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♦ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 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
Keeping Perry's Special Flavor
Perry’s city council is taking steps to preserve
some of the uniqueness of its city by imposing
design standards on large retail establishments
before any of them come to town.
With Houston County growing to the south it is
inevitable that Perry will see more and larger busi
nesses locate there in the future.
It is to the credit of city officials that they are
moving in this direction to help make the city
attractive as new businesses open.
One of the requirements in an ordinance that was
adopted last week will rpquire big box retailers to
construct buildings that are appealing to the eye
with brick exteriors rather than metal ones.
Hilton Head, S.C., requires that buildings housing
businesses “fit in” and add to the appearance of the
community. It works there. It can work in Perry.
Perry still has a small town, hometown appear
ance. Local investors are modernizing old buildings
and there is no reason not to expect new ones to
comply with certain standards.
Businesses’ signs also will be controlled, which is
a good idea.
By acting now, Perry can benefit from future
growth and still present a pleasant and attractive
appearance.
Preparing For Consequences
*
Houston County and the Houston County Board
of Commissioners are not letting any grass grow
under their feet, either, as they are creating the
Robins Planning Local Redevelopment Authority in
anticipation of the forthcoming Base Realignment
and Closure (BRAC) Commission.
The authority will be eligible for federal funding
as it prepares for any effect that BRAC will have on
the local community this year.
As commission Chairman Ned Sanders said, it is
important to make plans whether BRAC results in
the base losing workload or growing. Whatever hap
pens will require planning.
The authority needs strong leadership. The elect
ed officials made sure of that when they selected
former Rep. Larry Walker to be its chairman. He
will bring valuable experience dealing with govern
ments at all levels, as well as the kind of leadership
that will inspire others to follow.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Discrimination suit could
have been mediated
Editor:
The nine plaintiffs who
recently won their legal case
against the U.S. Air Force
and Robins Air Force Base
with SBBO,OOO in just
rewards did it all early so
that their actions wouldn’t
hurt the base during BRAC.
RAFB has long had some of
the worst labor relations in
the Department of Defense,
plus the most man hours
lost due to on-the-job
injuries. Not a record to be
proud of.
It was a no-brainer that
RAFB would lose this
pathetic case of bad man
agement in employee evalu
ations slanted unfairly
toward African Americans.
Yet the USAF pulled out
Georgia communities depend on block grant funds
Through the years,
Georgia’s cities and counties
have depended on important
Community Development
Block Grants (CDBG) made
available though the U.S.
Department of Housing and
Urban Development.
This important program
funds a wide range of com
munity initiatives, such as
housing and rehabilitation,
supportive services, public
improvements and economic
development projects in
communities throughout
the state of Georgia and
across the nation.
Nationally, the grants
serve more than 1,100 com
munities, urban counties,
and states, and more than
every dirty trick in the book,
and then some, to win their
case. But the good guys had
the evidence to prove their
side. Their heroic early win
should be heartily greeted.
What’s sad is that this
tragic, epic case of plain bad
management and racial
unfairness could have been
settled a lot sooner and at a
much smaller cost to the
taxpayer. Mediation could
have done it, but both sides
were dying for a fight. This
case is a classic example of
bad management that the
BRAC folks will use against
RAFB in the final run. But
the good guys, all 12,000
plus of them, really won,
though few may admit it.
What A SHAME!
Frank W. Gadbois
Warner Robins
Saxby Chambliss
U.S. Senator
R-Georgia
3,000 rural communities
with similar programs. In
2004, CDBG assisted
168,938 households and
funded service projects that
Hair loss, comb-overs,
As we get older, birthdays
become less a time of cele
bration an occasion for
reflection, even dread. So it
was with the birthday I cele
brated this week. Unlike
some people, I don’t balk at
telling my age. I turned 39,
putting me right on the
doorstep of the Big 40,
Hallmark of Middle Age.
That’s bad enough.
However, it’s the little tell
tale signs that your body is
sending that add insult to
injury. Signs like the ever
more-frequent creaking of
the knees and back. The fact
that your weight is greater
than your IQ. The need to
set up a coffee drip straight
into your veins to get your
heart started in the morn
ing. The sudden realization
that you’re comfortable in a
jacket or sweater in temper
atures you used to wear
shorts and a T-shirt in. All
that I can accept. However
I’m horrified at one terrible
sign I’m getting on up in
years, and I’m powerless to
stop it.
What is it about losing
one’s hair that causes such
alarm? I now tend to avoid
You might make mistakes, but try again
One of life's more amusing
ironies - for me, anyway - is
how things that look easy
often turn out to be hard;
and things you thought
were going to be hard turn
out to be a lot harder.
That bit of insight
occurred to me yesterday as
I was melting a layer of flesh
off my hands.
When some friends
offered me their cabin in
Carmel Valley, Calif., for a
place to get away and do
some writing, I was thrilled.
A long, wet winter had left
me hungry for a taste of
spring, and there's no finer
place to taste it than
Northern California.
Officially, it's still winter,
but the hills don't seem to
know that. Or maybe they're
just so drunk on rain they
don't care.
I wish you could see them.
The word "green" doesn't
begin to describe their color.
When we were children,
my brother, who was born
blind, used to make me tell
him what things looked like.
The fact that I was not good
at it did nothing to dissuade
him. If the image I tried to
paint failed to match the one
in his head, he'd say, "No,
that's not it. Try again."
Try as I might, I can't
think of a word to conjure
up the color of these hills.
If you were my brother, I
could take you out and roll
you in grass that's just been
mowed, stuff a little in your
mouth and a lot down your
pants and say "There! See?
That's green!"
And you'd say, "That's not
it, try again." Or you might
do as he did and beat me to
a pulp.
Let's just leave it at
"green."
Before letting me solo at
the cabin, my friends took
me out to show me things
like where to find a spare
key if I got locked out, how
to refill the kerosene in the
heater and what number to
benefited over 13 million
people.
Through personal visits,
letters, e-mails, phone calls
and faxes, scores of mayors,
county officials and con
cerned community leaders
from across our state have
stressed the importance and
successes of this program.
That’s why I have joined a
bipartisan group of 54
United States senators
working to prevent budget
cuts that currently threaten
this important program.
The U.S. Conference of
Mayors, National League of
Cities, National Community
Development Association,
National Association of
Housing Redevelopment
Joe Bishop
Columnist
joe@wnng.mgacoxmail.com
gazing into mirrors unless
absolutely necessary (hey, I
have a wife to tell me if I
need fashion or grooming
tips), and when I do look
into polished glass, I try not
to mull over the fact that
I’m becoming more and
more follically challenged.
It’s depressing, really, to
watch the daily carnage as
hairs turn loose to fall into
the sink. And running a
hairbrush along my increas
ingly exposed scalp is not a
task for the faint of heart, to
look down and see the
strands lying amidst the
I Wr
BMHBHeL. . J
Sharon Randall
Columnist
Scripps Howard News Service
call if I blew the place up.
"Not to worry," I said, "I
grew up in the South. I
know all about roughing it."
The cabin was actually
better equipped than my
house. It was surrounded by
giant redwoods, a raging
creek and a real live bobcat.
The biggest challenge was
figuring out how to use the
remote for the satellite dish.
And then the heater ran
out of kerosene. I didn't
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~Mr
f Get a smaller vehicle? \
( Carpool? Maybe walk? \
Officials, National
Association of Counties,
Local Initiatives Support
Corporation and Council of
State Development Agencies
support our efforts and this
important funding program.
There are hundreds of
success stories all across
Georgia where CDBG funds
have effectively made a dif
ference to our communities
- both big and small. Over
the years, dozens of cities
and. communities, like
Waynesboro, Macon,
Thomson and Augusta have
put CDBG funds to good
use.
For example, in 2004 the
city of Rome created the
South Rome Redevelopment
and the march of time
bristles, like fallen soldiers
after some great
Gettysburg. They did their
duty, and have been lovingly
collected for a final salute.
Usually, it’s burial at sea, as
I wash them down the sink,
along with my fading days of
youth. If you listen closely,
you can almost hear taps
playing in the background.
I shouldn’t be surprised,
really. My father went
through the same ordeal. I
can still see in my mind’s
eye visions of him at various
stages as I was growing up,
each one with a little more
top skin, and can appreciate
the not-so-subtle changes in
his hairline. Despite com
mon belief, children did not
make his hair fall out, just
as Thomas and Joseph are
not responsible for my
dilemma. We’re all victims
of the march of time; it’s
just some of us make better
billboards for Father Time’s
having his way with Mother
Nature. And I really should
n’t complain. I retain
enough top cover to pretend
I still have something work
ing on my scalp. It’s smoke
and mirrors, of course, a
notice it at first. I was busy
writing and sometimes
when I'm working I forget
where I am. You could stand
behind me and burst into
flames and, I'm sorry, but I
probably wouldn't notice. At
least, not in time to put you
out.
The first clue I had about
the heater was that my fin
gers got so cold I couldn't
type.
I knew what to do. My
friends had showed me. I
took the tank outside and
did exactly as I was told. It
was easy.
Or it would’ve been. But
the little yellow thingy on
the end of the whatever
snapped off in the - what do
you call it? - tank.
First I tried to shake it
out, and got soaked up to my
armpits in kerosene. Then I
tried to talk it out. Never
mind what I said. It didn't
help.
Finally I tried to fish it out
with my fingers, which after
many, many attempts,
have to buy it anyway!
Corporation with CDBG
funds. In Cordele, the funds
have provided storm water
control, street improve
ments, and water to lower
income families. In the
words of the Cordele City
Commissioner: “Many jobs
have been provided with the
funds...” Mayor James
Palmer of Calhoun has said:
“These (CDBG grants) have
been most worthwhile proj
ects and have enhanced our
community and the quality
of life for many of its citi
zens.”
Additionally, with so many
unfunded mandates coming
from Washington, CDBG is
one way we can help com
munities across the country
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
trick of talented brushing in
key directions to give maxi
mum coverage, but it still
works to a degree. Only my
barber and Shaquille O’Neal
know for sure. And I haven’t
compensated for hair loss
above the eyes by growth
below them. My ears and
nose are not afflicted with
“Hairs Gone Wild” - not yet.
So I suppose on the occa
sion of this birthday I’ll be
thankful for what I have
left. Society has placed a
premium on a nice, thick,
youthful mane of hair, it’s
true, but I’ll stand by the
belief that what’s on your
head isn’t nearly as impor
tant as what’s in it, not to
mention in your heart. God
has blessed me with an
abundance of both. And as
for the fact that when it
comes to hair styles I’ve lost
all structural integrity, espe
cially in high winds, well, so
what? Who says a man who
combs over his bald spot
lacks honesty? We’re just
doing the rest of you a pub
lic service. At all, beautifica
tion projects start at home!
worked.
It also melted my finger
nails and left my hands
about as red as the rear end
of a baboon - a small price to
pay for heat.
I've done some hard things
- not many, only a few - in
my lifetime: Given birth,
reared three children,
buried both my parents and
the man that I was married
to for 30 years.
Here's what I've learned
that I wish somebody had
told me: The hard things are
harder than you dreamed
they'd be, and the easy
things aren't always easy.
Don't worry. You'll know
what to do when you need to
do it. You might make mis
takes, but that's all right.
Just say, no, that's not it,
and try again.
Sharon Randall is the
author of "Birdbaths and
Paper Cranes." Contact her
at P.O. Box 931, Pacific
Grove CA 93950, or at ran
dallbay@earthlink. net.
meet some very critical pri
orities. This program pre
vents Washington from
micromanaging the needs of
local communities and,
instead, helps communities
meet their own needs and
priorities.
The Community
Development Block Grant
program is a valuable com
munity development pro
gram that has helped create
jobs and has helped provide
needed assistance to hun
dreds of communities across
Georgia. I will continue
working with my colleagues
in support of this program
that means so much to so
many Georgia communiUw, j