Newspaper Page Text
4A
♦ SUNDAY, MARCH 13, 2005
(Ute .ijnimtal
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
President,
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans Rex Gambill
Vice President Managing Editor
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
Animal Control Isn’t Easy
Vision 2020 has reached an impasse on the first
effort to adopt a unified ordinance that would
apply to the county, Warner Robins, Centerville
and Perry.
The group voted on an animal control ordi
nance, which will have to be submitted to all four
governing bodies, but from the outset
Councilman Terry Horton of Warner Robins says
his council will not approve it. Mayor Jim Worrall
said the same thing about Perry.
The idea for Vision 2020 was great.
Representatives of the four governing bodies
would meet periodically and agree on ways they
can work together.
So far, after a couple of years and a period with
a paid coordinator, the group really is where it
started.
The meetings have been so devoid of real
accomplishments you just have to hope they at
least have some good refreshments.
Ironically, every member of Vision 2020 comes
to the table with the best of intentions. It’s just
that their constituencies make it nearly impossi
ble to knuckle under to an ordinance that is con
trary to those they have been operating under.
The animal control ordinance, which will go
before all four governing bodies, will allow a per
son to own no more than three dogs and three
cats. For some people that is not enough. For
some it is too many. Animal control advocates
have attended meetings to provide input on their
desires.
Councilman Horton would like to see each gov
erning body given the authority to make excep
tions, which really would result in no change at
all.
It is fact that we need uniform animal control
policies throughout the county. With city limits
winding their way all over the place animal con
trol officers have to be confused whether they
have jurisdiction.
Vision 2020 has spent some time on other issues
where uniformity would be ideal and so far each
city and the county have their own regulations.
Planning, zoning, engineering, building codes,
just to mention a few areas where uniformity
would be beneficial in this growing county.
Again, this is something easy to say. It is easy to
get four independent governing bodies to give
enough ground to come up with ordinances that
will apply everywhere in the county.
Vision 2020 was - is - a good idea. You have to
give credit to the elected officials who dutifully
attend meetings and try to work out problems.
But the task is daunting.
If it is impossible to get together on such a
minor problem as animal control there is reason
to believe that future challenges will be even
more difficult to overcome.
Send your Letters to the Editor to:
The Houston Home journal
P.O. Box 1910 • Perry, Ga 31069 or
Email: hhj@evansnewspapers.com
The ransom o! the red reporter: Italy capitulates
International furor over
Giuliana Sgrena, an Italian
communist writer who
claims American troops in
Iraq may have deliberately
shot at her car after she was
released by kidnappers,
misses the bigger scandal.
The scandal is not that an
anti-war propagandist has
accused the U.S. of targeting
journalists. That’s par for
the course. (Yes, hello again,
Eason Jordan.)
The scandal is not that
mainstream media sympa
thizers are blaming our mil
itary and dredging up every
last shooting accident along
the treacherous routes to
Baghdad Airport. Again, no
surprise here.
The scandal is that Italy -
our reputed ally in the glob
al War on Terror - negotiat
ed with Sgrena’s Islamist
kidnappers and may have
forked over a massive ran
som to cutthroats for
Sgrena’s release.
Where is the uproar over
Michelle Malkin
Columnist
Creators Syndicate
this Islamist insurgency
subsidy plan?
Iraqi politician Younadem
Kana told Belgian state TV
that he had “non-official”
information that Italy paid
the terrorists $1 million in
tribute. The Washington
Times, citing the Italian
newspaper La Stampa,
pinned the ransom figure at
$6 million. Italian newspa
per Corriere della Sera
Armchair critics don't know what they're talking about
A soldier in Iraq was on a
dangerous combat mission.
He and his comrades cap
tured some terrorists. One
of them made a motion,
which the soldier feared was
an attempt to blow them up.
He had reason for this
fear. He had seen a friend
blown up by a hand grenade
under a similar circum
stance the night before.
The soldier killed the per
son he suspected wanted to
kill him.
In my opinion, he is a
hero, though in this circum
stance it turned out that the
person he killed did not have
a hand grenade. He just as
easily could have had one.
An investigation has
ensued. The soldier’s judg
ment has been put into
question for reacting to a
situation in a combat situa
tion. i
Regardless of how this
comes out, this soldier has
been rendered useless for
future combat. In a similar
circumstance he will hesi
tate long enough to wonder
if he will be court-martialed
for firing. It might just be
Setting the record straight
We goofed a little bit this
week on a story, and it’s
worth correcting in this
space.
In Wednesday’s edition of
the HHJ, we inaccurately
reported that the council
approved a motion calling or
the council to publish a raise
in the salary for the mayor
of Warner Robins from
$50,000 a year to $75,000.
We said the measure passed
by a vote of 6-0.
Well, I should have
checked that fact.
The truth is that on Feb.
7, Councilman Dean Cowart
made a motion to raise the
salary. The city attorney,
Jim Elliott, informed the
council that such a change
would have to be advertised
in the city’s legal organ
(coincidentally, this newspa
per), for the purposes of
ensuring public notice.
The vote actually broke
down 5-1-1. Cowart and fel
low councilmen Matt Stone,
Terry Horton, Grady
Clemonts and Thomas
Simms voted in favor of the
pay raise. Mayor Donald
Walker voted against it, and
Councilman Stephen Smith
abstained from the vote.
One month later, in
Monday’s council meeting,
Cowart presented an ordi
nance that would make the
change official - but then
moved that the council dis
approve the measure
because it is an election
year, and because the mayor
did not seek the increase.
Some interesting discus
sion ensued (see
Wednesday’s HHJ for
details). When all was said
and done, Cowart,
Clemonts, Horton and
Walker voted in favor of the
reported that the Italian
government forked over
between $lO million and
$13.4 million to free Sgrena.
Whatever the final tally,
it’s a whopping bounty that
will undoubtedly come in
handy for cash-hungry
killers in need of spiffy new
rocket-propelled grenade
launchers, AK-475, mortars,
landmines, components for
vehicle-borne improvised
explosive devices, and
recruitment fees. (To put
this windfall in perspective,
bear in mind that the 9/11
plot was a half-million dollar
drop in the bucket for
Osama bin Laden.)
Or maybe Italian advo
cates of this terrorist get
rich-quick scheme think the
thugs will spend their
money on Prada handbags
and Versace couture.
Both the Italian govern
ment and members of the
Iraq Islamic Army who
abducted Sgrena vehement
ly deny that money was
I M
Foy Evans
Columnist
foye vans 19@cox .net
long enough to get himself
and his comrades killed.
Other soldiers, seeing
what has happened to this
one, might be tempted to
hesitate a fraction of a sec
ond, which could be the dif
ference between life and
death.
Armchair critics of the
war in Iraq jumped on this
incident with both feet, crit
icizing the soldier for his
actions.
A few days ago three
Italians, one of them a com
munist newspaper corre
ill
Rex Gambill
Managing Editor
rgambill@evansnewspapers.com
motion to disapprove the
pay hike, and Smith, Simms
and Stone voted against it.
The motion not to give the
mayor a raise passed 4-3.
The error was not entirely
ours, apparently, as Stone
Hello- I'MTAKIWGA V OO'toDTWMK ITSAGOOO IDEA 1 HV- 1M TAKING ANOTHER
t POLL FOR THE NEW f TO ALLOW INDIVIDUALS TO INVENT I POLL! DO YOU KNOW HOU) 1
V WORKT/MES' J PART Of THEIR SOCIAL SECURITY] MDCVI YOU ARE PAY! MG WTO )
TAYE6 ONTHEIR SOCIAL SECURITY ACCOUNT^
||
DO you KNOW HOW MUCH ” fpiD YOU KNOW TOE GOVERNMENTAL AST (JQ&sTtON : WOULD YOul
YOUR EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTES? is spending. not saving toe SB LIKE to change toe answer I
SI iniT MONEY YbURE TUTTING INTO \i\ YOU GAVE TO THAT LAS>T J
.VOjS,SOC,A L WITV j—*A
SSMAN DOESNT V{WP'Tvo YOU THINK fbUTICIAN&I 1/
i TOY INTO SOCIAL —V/7 SHOULD CONTROL YOUR J rOviBETV JH.
Y,OUTHASHI6 \ SOCIAL SECURITY NEST f TT)
CJ?
CjVcJ^r-J
exchanged. Yet, even as his
government officially
rebuffed reports of a ransom
arrangement in the Sgrena
affair, Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi was quoted by
the newspaper II
Messaggero conceding: “We
have to rethink our strategy
in dealing with kidnap
pings.”
A little late for a do-over,
don’t you think?
According to the New York
Post, Lucia Annunziata, for
mer president of Italian
state television RAI, said
government sources esti
mate Italy has paid kidnap
pers nearly sls million for
hostages in the past year
alone. Indeed, last
September, Gustavo Selva,
chairman of parliament’s
foreign affairs committee,
confirmed that two Italian
aid workers - who praised
their kidnappers as
“resisters” - were freed
after the government paid at
least $1 million in cash to
spondent, ran an American
checkpoint on what has
been described as the most
dangerous seven miles in
the world (the road from
Beirut to the airport).
It was at night. They had
not notified the Americans
they were coming. They
refused to stop when
ordered to do so. The
Americans fired and killed
one occupant of the car and
injured the female commu
nist reporter.
The car could have been
driven by a terrorist and the
car could have been loaded
with explosives. It happens
often in Iraq.
But the soldiers at the
checkpoint are being criti
cized for their actions by
newspapers and anti-war
activists here and around
the world.
They have seen other inci
dents where someone failing
to stop at a checkpoint was
driving a bomb loaded vehi
cle and people were killed.
An investigation is under
way.
Now their effectiveness
has been compromised.
was quoted as saying
Monday that the February
motion passed by a 6-0 vote.
But I’ll take the blame for
our part of it.
Another point must be
made here as well.
Under the charter of the
city of Warner Robins, the
mayor is a full voting mem
ber of the council. While
some communities have a
system by which the mayor
only votes in case of a tie,
Warner Robins’ mayor can
make motions, and vote on
them at the same time as his
fellow council members.
This is one of the reasons
Warner Robins is often
described as having a
“strong mayor” form of gov
ernment.
It’s a fine point, but one
worth making and worth
their Iraqi captors.
The admission came after
heated denials by top gov
ernment officials. Selva,
auditioning Italy for a spot
in the Axis of Weasels pan
theon, mused at the time:
“In principle, we shouldn’t
give in to blackmail, but this
time we had to, although it’s
a dangerous path to take
because, obviously, it could
encourage others to take
hostages, either for political
reasons or for criminal rea
sons.”
How do you say “No duh”
in Italian?
To be fair to Italy, which
continues to maintain a
3,000-troop presence in Iraq
despite enormous anti-war
pressure, its reported pay
offs to terrorists are dwarfed
by the moilycoddlers in
Manila and Malaysia, who
have fed Abu Sayyafs head
chopping kidnappers tens of
millions in tribute over the
past several years - money
that is now reportedly being
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
They will be tempted to hes
itate in a future incident to
consider the consequences
of doing their jobs to the
best of their ability.
We are sending our young
men and women half way
around the world to fight a
vicious, cruel, ruthless
enemy.
Critics sit at home in their
padded chairs watching tele
vision and criticizing. You
hear them on the radio, read
their letters in the newspa
pers and they find fault with
the way the war is being
fought. Some members of
Congress use their positions
to criticize actions taken
where anyone could be out
to kill you.
I find it reprehensible that
people in the comfort of
their homes assume they
know what a soldier should
do under stressful combat
conditions. Who do they
think they are?
If they believe they can do
it better, there is a recruit
ing office nearby. Use it. I’ll
provide the transportation.
remembering.
• • •
An announcement:
Recently we bid farewell to a
well-liked member of our
news staff, Jon Suggs.
Jon took a job at the
Americus Times Recorder as
a copy editor. In the newspa
per world, it’s a bit of a pro
motion, and carries with it
more, and different, respon
sibilities. Also, Americus is
Jon’s hometown, so it’s a
good fit for him.
Jon is one of several out
standing HHJ news staffers
who have gone on to the
next step in their careers,
and reflected well on us in
the process.
I know that I speak for our
entire newsroom - and
many of you - in wishing
him well.
channeled to worldwide al
Qaeda operations.
Still, you would expect a
country that once embraced
the defiant spirit of Fabrizio
Quattrochi - the murdered
Italian security guard taken
hostage in Iraq last year
who stoically told his assas
sins, “I’m going to show you
how an Italian dies” - to
resist the Quisling impulse
with every fiber of its collec
tive being.
The consequences of capit
ulation are bloody obvious.
When you allow your people
to be used as terrorist collec
tion plates, the thugs will
keep coming back for more.
Might as well hang a sign
around the neck of every
Italian citizen left in Iraq:
Buon appetito.
Michelle Malkin is author
of “Invasion: How America
Still Welcomes Terrorists,
Criminals, and Other
Foreign Menaces to Our
Shores" (Regnery). Malkin’s
e-mail address is
malkinlwcomcast.net.