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♦ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 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
Seeking Unrealistic Goal
A Georgia conference on high school improve
ment was held here last week. Educators from all
over the state gathered to discuss and explore
ways to improve the quality of education in high
schools.
There was no shortage of ideas. The educators
who gathered were sincere in their determination
to explore any means that would result in doing a
better job.
We do not know what was resolved. But we do
know that there was concerted effort. You had to
admire them for their dedication and resourceful
ness.
One of the challenges facing educators in
Georgia, as well as the nation, is compliance with
the federal No Child Left Behind Act
A goal of NCLB is that all students be perform
ing on the same level by the year 2014.
It is a reflection of just how out of touch with
reality the authors of this law are.
Children are not born with the same intelli
gence. Let’s face it. They are not even born with
the same interests. They do not have genes that
make them all want to be alike. They are human
beings. They are not clones. Some will be indus
trious. Some will be lazy. Some will be athletic.
Some will favor the arts. Some will be geniuses.
Some will be just plain dumb.
And, as they grow up, some will be able to learn
at a faster pace than others. Some of this comes
from heredity. Some from environment.
No government program is going to make all
students perform at the same level unless the
undesirable decision to settle for the lowest com
mon denominator is accepted.
The goal of education should be to challenge all
students. Help them achieve all they can, consid
ering their native intelligence and ambition.
They should be challenged to excel. Leaving
someone behind who cannot - or will not - excel
should be accepted.
The goal of education should be to get the most
out of our children. Expecting all of them to per
form at the same level - regardless of the year -
is unrealistic. Ask any teacher you know and this
is an answer most of them will give you.
No Child Left Behind is a noble effort. It may
prove challenging to teachers and administrators.
But when it expects all the children in any school
to perform on the same level it overlooks human
nature and could be a deterrent to real quality of
education across the spectrum.
Bankruptcy reform bill
helps consumers, farmers
With continued abuse of
the bankruptcy laws, bank
ruptcy reform is long over
due. That’s why I am
pleased to report that the
United States Senate
recently approved an impor
tant bipartisan bankruptcy
reform bill with overwhelm
ing support. The bill seeks
to reduce abusive and frivo
lous bankruptcy filings,
while at the same time pre
serves bankruptcy protec
tion for those who genuinely
need it.
Many times people file for
bankruptcy when they can
afford to pay their debts, but
use bankruptcy as an easy
way out to have their debts
canceled. This is wrong and
must end now.
Frivolous bankruptcy fil
ings also put a major strain
our nation’s economy. When
abuse runs rampant, con
sumers feel the pinch with
higher prices for goods and
services.
This recently passed
reform bill sends an impor
tant message that people
cannot use bankruptcy as a
financial tool or as an easy
way out of paying their
debts.
While the bankruptcy
reform bill cracks down on
Send your Letters to the Editor to:
The Houston Home journal
P.O. Box 1910 • Perry, Ga 31069 or
Email: hhj@evansnewspapers.com
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Saxby Chambliss
U.S. Senator
R-Georgia
those who abuse the system,
it also seeks to help those
who genuinely need it. For
example, the bill provides
special protections to farm
ers and lessens the capital
gains tax burden on finan
cially strapped farmers who
declare bankruptcy. The bill
also takes special care of our
nation’s veterans whose
financial debts may have
occurred during their mili
tary service.
Bankruptcy should be
there for those who truly
need it and not for those
who are trying to take
advantage of the system.
This bankruptcy reform bill
strikes the right balance
and is long overdue.
A sacrifice for a child's first Easter
“It’s so cute!” drawled my
wife as she held up a little
Easter dress pulled from a
rack of dozens. We had
stopped by Wal-Mart on a
busy Sunday afternoon to
buy shoes for our boys
Thomas and Joseph, and
had made the tactical mis
take of walking down the
aisle adjacent to the baby
section. So there we stood,
as Teresa examined the dis
play rack, playing dress-up
in her mind’s eye with eight
month-old daughter Beth.
At least Thomas and Joseph
didn’t mind... we were
parked directly across from
a large pile of Easter bas
kets, which were holding
them spellbound.
Suddenly Teresa’s counte
nance fell.
“We just can’t afford this
right now,” she said glumly,
and put the little robin’s-egg
blue dress back from where
it came. And she was right,
at least financially. We’re
not poor, of course. I guess
you could call us solidly mid
dle class, with middle-class
FMCA'ers: Welcome to your home away from home!
Have you noticed an
influx of motor coaches in
our community the past few
days?
Guess what?
We are about to have sev
eral thousand visitors again
this year!
If you remember, the
Family Motor Coach
Association has had three
previous conventions in our
city, bringing in large num
bers of these wonderful peo
ple and their interesting
homes on wheels!
The first convention held
at the Georgia National
Fairgrounds and Agricenter
in 1996 was a hit with
FMCA’ers and Perryans
alike.
I can remember standing
open-mouthed near the agri
center exit watching as hun
dreds of motor coaches
rolled off Interstate 75
toward the fairgrounds.
And what nice people I
met as many couples
stopped in to visit at the
newspaper office downtown
as they visited our charming
downtown area!
And out at the agricenter,
Michele Treptow and all the
other agricenter staff was
busy making sure the visi
tors had everything they
needed to make their visit a
happy one!
It was successful because
here they come again!
According to organizers,
about 5,000 motor coaches
will roll into town again for
the convention set for
March 21 through 24.
And, like past events,
many of these will come in a
week or so early to stage at
different sites before mak
ing their way onto the fair
grounds.
• • •
You can visit the FMCA
Web site and learn a lot
about the motor coach way
of life.
There are stories on the
site about the Perry conven
tion with information about
BPLOST is not the answer
Editor:
Once again the overburdened tax
payers of Houston County are being
asked to extend one of the two
SPLOSTs currently active. Indeed,
these SPLOSTs seem to be never-end
ing. Hence, in Houston County, they
are more rightly referred to as
Perpetual Local Option Sales Tax
(PLOST).
While the need for additional schools
is obvious, the need for some of the
extras the school board has included in
their proposal for their SPLOST and
our PLOST are completely unneces
sary.
The increasingly rapid growth of the
county has brought with it the need to
add infrastructure to support the new
residents, who move here from other
counties. Unfortunately, current coun
ty residents bear the entire cost of sup
plying that infrastructure.
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Joe Bishop
Columnist
joe@wnng.mgacoxmail.com
money pressures. The first
of the year is always tight,
as it is for millions of fami
lies like ours. We sit on the
cusp of tax time, just as
we’re shaking free of the
bills from Christmas. Add in
the fact that both property
taxes and car tags are due in
this same three-month peri
od, and it means cutting
back on some of our discre
tionary spending. A new
Easter dress was just a luxu
ry we couldn’t afford, not
'( ' ■
Emily Johnstone
Columnist
ejohnstone@evansnewspapers.com
our town for the FMCA
members.
• • •
Be careful when driving in
downtown Perry!
One of those shortcut
roads we all know and love
to use to save time has been
closed.
The portion of Meeting
Street that runs alongside
the former post office build
ing is closed to traffic.
I
"...Now if we could tax taxes, that would be real money!"
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Some, including myself, have asked
the county commission to levy impact
fees upon local developers to assist in
paying for the new infrastructure. The
commission has disregarded the needs
of their constituents and instead acted
time and time again to protect the
interests of local developers.
Numerous governments in the state
do levy impact fees upon developers to
defray the costs of infrastructure
expansion.
There is now a bill that was submit
ted on this date by state representative
Jan Jones of north Fulton County that
requests a committee to study the col
lection of impact fees for schools. At
present, schools are not included in the
schedule of impact fees within our
state. That bill is H 8637.
I encourage all residents to call their
state representatives and state sena
tors and request their support of this
vital legislation.
now.
Or was it? I thought about
it the rest of the day, espe
cially when I was in the
same room with Beth. This
would be her first Easter,
and the holiday is about joy
and rebirth, just as my little
daughter has brought so
much joy with her birth less
than a year ago. I mulled it
over while watching Teresa.
She was hiding it well, but I
could tell she was disap
pointed.
Easter is about love and
caring, just as my wife
embodies those qualities
toward me and the children.
And I thought about the sit
uation every time I glanced
across the living room and
saw the Bible sitting on the
end table. Easter is about
sacrifice without counting
the price. Faith in action,
not contemplation.
Suddenly, I knew what I had
to do.
As it turns out, I still had
a gift card I received as a
Christmas present in my
wallet. I had never used it,
So keep alert! If you, from
longtime habit, start to zip
across either Commerce or
Carroll on this street, you
will find your way obstruct
ed by large iron posts!
• • •
A disturbing practice in
our nation’s newsrooms is
apparently becoming more
common, according to a
report in The Washington
Post.
The airing of information
clips provided by govern
mental agencies with no
attribution to these stories
which are all about are the
ones who actually oversee
their production - giving
you a report that is free of
any criticism of said agency
- happens a great deal, says
the report.
Many news department
heads expressed surprise to
learn their medium had
actually presented these
reports, with no attribution
to the proper agency.
• • •
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
and after tucking it away
behind my driver’s license I
had forgotten about it. So,
later that evening, after
everyone else had gone to
bed, I slipped out and went
back to the store. I found
that little blue dress, and
brought it home for Beth. In
one symbolic swipe of that
card, a Christmas gift
became an Easter sacrifice.
Why do it? Well, you never
step in the same river twice
- the stream of time tumbles
on. Beth would never again
have the opportunity to
wear that little dress on her
first Easter Sunday. It was a
sacrifice, yes, but it was a
gift worth giving. And some
how, when I listen to this
month’s Easter sermon, the
one we hear every year
about love beyond price, it
will mean just a little bit
more. •
Joe Bishop is the news
director for WNNG 1350
AM, Houston County’s only
locally-owned radio station.
While it is maddening to
know tax dollars are being
spent to produce feel-good
propaganda that is anything
but balanced and then pre
sented to the public as pro
fessional journalism, I think
most of the blame goes with
owners who slash budgets
for newsrooms and/or put
those without a news back
ground in charge of news
departments.
• • •
For those of you who pur
chased tickets from the
Perry Exchange Club for a
flat of delicious strawber
ries, do not forget they are
due in this weekend!
Your strawberries can be
picked up at Advance Auto
Parts parking lot on Sam
Nunn Boulevard from 11
a.m. until 7 p.m. Friday or
from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m.
Saturday.
There will be a limited
number of extras available
for those days.
David E. Wittenberg
Kathleen
Walker deserves praise
Editor:
Mayor Donald Walker of Warner
Robins deserves to be commended for
turning down a significant pay raise!
The mayor’s record of accomplish
ments is laudable. Especially now that
he has vocal opposition in our city
council. But he strives to keep our
taxes low and our roads in good shape.
Hopefully in the future he will con
tinue to be mindful of dangers from
unlimited growth that could cause the
EPA to declare the county a non
attainment zone due to ozone pollu
tion! More parks for our citizens and
public transportation for our poorest
would be nice! Three cheers for our
beloved mayor!
Frank W. Gadbois
Warner Robins