Newspaper Page Text
4A
♦ TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2005
Houston Mmtic d
CLlu' jjmmtal
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
President,
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans Rex Gambiil
Vice President Managing Editor
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
Centerville's Downtown Area
Centerville Mayor Ronnie Brand has a dream.
He wants his small city to have a real downtown,
which it never has had.
And he wants it to become reality soon.
Doubters scoffed at the idea of creating a down
town Centerville when Mayor Brand first
brought it up. Now it is beginning to look like his
dream will become reality - sooner than later.
Brand envisions a downtown area extending
from Gunn Road along an extended Margie Drive
to Houston Lake Road to the north. He wants to
see curbs and sidewalks, a park and businesses.
A start has been made. Colony Bank has pur
chased a lot at the northwest corner of Gunn
Road and Margie Drive. A drug store is going next
door.
More than $160,000 has been donated toward
the project and enthusiasm in the Centerville
area is running high.
A Downtown Development Authority has been
organized and it is moving forward.
Everything seems to be in place for this project
to take life and become reality in a reasonable
length of time.
When Centerville has its own downtown, it will
be a tribute to one man’s dream and the coopera
tion and enthusiasm of people he has recruited to
join him in the effort.
Holtling Ponds Dilemma
All the rain that flooded Houston County dur
ing the past week highlights the urgency of deal
ing with the problem of holding ponds for runoff
water.
Vision 2020 has mentioned this as a priority, but
so far a plan that will serve the entire northern
part of the county has not been presented or
adopted.
At the present time dozens (maybe hundreds) of
small holding ponds can be seen all over the heav
ily populated parts of the county. Some business
es are required to provide their own holding
ponds before construction begins.
The situation in the Centerville area is quite
noticeable every time there is a heavy rain, far
less than we experienced last year.
Some forward thinking developers have been
calling for something to be done in this area for a
long time.
Presently, if a developer creates a subdivision
with a holding pond to handle runoff water it
works fine until all the lots in the subdivision are
sold and the developer moves on.
Holding ponds maintained by developers then
become the responsibility of the county to main
tain or let them turn into huge breeding grounds
for mosquitoes.
As the county continues to develop the problem
will grow.
Liberals have
moral high ground
Editor:
Now that Terri Schiavo
has passed away, we can see
that the moral beliefs of lib
erals are superior.
We don’t support the
death penalty and we
believe that the life of the
woman is more important
than the fetus. Liberals
don’t support the insane
sacrificing of thousands of
American and Iraqi lives in
a fruitless and unjustified
war to supposedly defeat
terrorism.
We rely on medical science
and the rule of law to advice
us in such difficult matters,
while conservatives appear
indifferent to medical sci
ence and laws! What they
believe is both morally
repugnant and morally thin!
Frank W. Gadbois
Warner Robins
Schiavo a bigamist
Editor:
While Michael Schiavo
was married to Terri, he has
been living with another
woman, who had two chil
dren by him, wouldn’t that
mean that she was his com
mon-law wife?
If that is so, then why was
n’t he charged with bigamy?
(I know that there is no law
against adultery, sad to say.)
But as I understand it,
there is a law against
bigamy. Then he shouldn’t
have any say so about what
happened to Terri.
C. N. Greer
Warner Robins
Heck, yes
Editor:
Fifty-three years ago at a
Wednesday evening church
service, I was introduced to
a handsome young airman,
who had just arrived for
duty at Robins Air Force
Base. I was told his name
was “Heck.” Bypassing my
good manners, I questioned
him, “Your name is
WHAT?” He smiled and
repeated his name, “Glenn
Heck.” Cleverly, I remarked,
“Oh, Heck?” His reply was,
“No, that’s my Dad, Oscar
It all depends on how you look at It
Has it occurred to you
that gasoline at $2 a gallon
still is much cheaper than a
gallon of bottled water?
• • •
I wonder why President
Bush is squandering so
much of his political capital
on -Social Security personal
investment accounts and
abandoning the things peo
ple elected him to do domes
tically, such as tax reform.
Even if he wins the Social
Security fight he will get
only part of what he wants
at a very high political price.
• • •
Has anyone stopped to
consider that Social Security
was not created as a retire
ment program? I received a
Social Security card the first
year the program went into
effect. Few people at that
time expected to live long
enough to receive money
from the program ... yet
here I am in my 21st year as
a Social Security recipient.
• • •
As far as I am concerned
Teaching time takes too much time
I was walking by her dark
ened room when I heard the
call.
“Daddy, can you help me?”
My 6-year-old daughter
was standing in the middle
of her room, in the dark,
turning off and on her new
toy - a watch that has a
light.
“Sure, whatcha need?”
“Daddy, I can’t figure out
this watch. How can I tell
what time it is?”
I turned on the room’s
overhead light and we sat
down on her bed. She can
tell time on a digital or
numerical clock by simply
reading the numbers:
“It’s one, two, seven... it’s
1:27.” But she hasn’t been
taught how to tell time on
an analog clock or watch, to
determine what indicates
time based on the hands of
the dial. I envisioned anoth
er of those wonderful par
ent-child moments that last
a lifetime - like when I
taught her how to spell her
name, or ride a bike, or but
ton her shirt, or pick a lock,
or hotwire a car. I would
teach her how to tell time -
and it would stay with her
forever.
“All right, see the num
bers on the face of your
watch. There’s 12 of them,
right?”
She nodded.
“OK, when the little hand
is pointed toward one of
those numbers, that indi
cates the hour. The bigger
hand indicates the minutes.
And the little thingy that’s
moving pretty fast indicates
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Heck.” We both smiled and
got along just fine.
About a year and a half
later, I said, “I do,” to that
name. An unusual name for
these parts, almost unbe
lievable, since our 1953 wed
ding announcement in the
newspaper read, “Miss
Stephens is now Mrs.
Hicks.”
May I explain further? We
still find it quite amusing
that our name Heck has to
be repeated and spelled so
often in response to quizzi
cal looks. Usually a smile
creeps in when I tell them,
“H-E-C-K, and you’re not
cussin’.”
A day seldom passes that
this acceptable four-letter
word does not appear in
newspaper articles, comic
strips, advertisements and
in conversations. Heck, I’d
wager you’ve used our good
name in vain for years.
Many times someone with
whom we are talking will
utter “heck” and then apolo
gize. This is all in good
humor and no apology is
needed.
jSBBK
Foy Evans
Columnist
foyevansl9@cox.net
Medicare is much more
important than Social
Security. It is a safety net
that every old person I talk
with considers to be the best
government program they
know of. When politicians
begin meddling with
Medicare you can expect
seniors to come out in full
force against them.
• • •
I wonder if anyone can get
on the Internet and tell us
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Len Robbins
Columnist
airpub@planttel.net
the seconds.”
“Whoa, whoa, Daddy, I
don’t see any hands on this
watch,” she interrupted.
“Whose hands?”
“No, nobody’s hands,” I
chuckled. “That’s what you
call those little metal thin
gies pointing toward the
numbers - hands.”
“They aren’t shaped like
hands. Why are they called
hands?”
“Uh, I don’t know. I guess
they’re called hands
because... well, uh, I guess,
er... because that’s what
they’re called. Let’s move
on.
“So, when the little hand
is on the five and the big
hand is on three, it’s 5:15.
See,” I told her, looking
down at her face. Her
vacant, open-mouthed gaze
was eerily familiar - it was
the same look my science
teachers saw between
grades five through 12, and
my wife saw when she tried
to explain to me why all of
Glenn has used “BY
HECK” for many years as a
byline for professional writ
ing. It’s our e-mail address
and our car tag bears it. So
u
1/ 1 :
how long it has been since
we have had so much rain in
such a short period of time.
• • •
Both houses of the
Georgia legislature and
Congress are controlled by
one party. What they have
done this year confirms my
belief that our country is
served best when one party
does not control both hous
es. A divided legislature or
congress provides checks
and balances that prevent
foolish and unwise legisla
tion.
• • •
Pork in our legislature is
not dead. It just winds up on
different plates.
• • •
The Terri Schiavo case
has focused attention on
Living Wills. I have one. I
believe it is an important
document. Georgia’s Living
Will law is very specific and
gives a person plenty of lee
way in determining ahead of
time what should be done in
case life support is offered,
our children’s birthday par
ties must have a theme with
matching plates and nap
kins.
I snapped my fingers
about an inch from her face,
ending the trance.
“Whaa? What are you say
ing? Why is it 15 when the
hand is on the three? The
time should be... three,” she
reasoned. “And the little
thing, I mean hand, isn’t on
the five, it’s a little past the
five.”
“No, no, no,” I countered
sagely. “See, time on this
clock is measured in inter
vals of five. See, one is five;
two is 10; three is 15; four is
20; and so on.”
Again, the look.
“Whaa? What is an inter
bill?”
“No, interval,” I
answered. “An interval is a
segment. This clock shows
the time in segments of
five.”
“No, Daddy, you said that
the little thingy that goes
fast is the seconds. You’ve
got it all wrong,” she said.
“No, that’s seg-ment, not
sec-onds. And, yes, the little
thingy that goes fast does
measure seconds. The num
bers are in seg-ments of
five,” I said.
“See, one is five; two is 10;
three is 15; and it goes on to
11 being 55, and 12 is 60.
Then, it starts all over again
in terms of the minutes.”
I got a whispered “huh?”
accompanied by the look.
We both paused, looking
at the watch I held in my
hand, trying not to contract
remember, Heck is a great
name and you have our per
mission to use it in good
faith.
There is no great demand
"Looks like it’s safe to come out now...
the General Assembly session is over!"
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
even what can be done if a
person has been put on life
support against their will.
An important thing to
remember is that a Living
Will means nothing if it is
not in the hands of the right
people at the right time.
Some hospitals permit
patients to express their
desires when registering.
Giving copies of your Living
Will to your doctors, family
members and even the hos
pital where you are likely to
be a patient is a good idea.
* * *
Advocates of a very strict
ban on smoking in public
places didn’t get all they
wanted from the legislature
this year, but the bill that
finally emerged is a good one
with reasonable compromis
es. People who frequent bars
will get to smoke all they
want to and most restau
rants will be smoke-free.
vertigo.
“Daddy,” my daughter
said calmly, breaking the
silence of confusion.
“Yes,” I uneasily
answered.
“Why can’t one be one,
two be two, like that? That
would be easier. Who made
it that way - God?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I
just don’t know.”
I gave it one last try.
“All right, see, right now,
the little hand is just a little
past the 11, right. That
means it’s the 11th hour.
Then, the big hand is on
two. That means 10. So, it’s
11:10 a.m.,” I said. “Does
that make sense?”
“Daddy, I know what a.m.
means,” she replied.
“Oh, really. What?”
“Am. It’s one of our
spelling words this week.”
“You’re right. It spells
am,” I said, deflatedly, chin
on chest.
“Can I go now?”
“Yes, honey, you may go.”
Someone famous - possi
bly that Balky guy on
“Perfect Strangers” - once
said, “time is a great
teacher.”
Good, because I’m not,
and I’m counting on it to
teach itself to my children.
Len Robbins is editor and
publisher of The Clinch
County News in Homerville,
whose award-winning week
ly column appears in over a
dozen newspapers. A proud
University of Georgia gradu
ate, Robbins and his wife
have three young children.
for this explanation.* I
thought I would do it just for
the Heck of it.
Margaret Heck
Warner Robins