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♦ TUESDAY, MAY 10, 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
Tint Law On Books Again
Georgia once again has a law governing tint
ing of windows on automobiles.
The last time we had such a law the Georgia
Supreme Court shot it down because it
applied only to Georgia drivers and not driv
ers from other states who might be using our
highways.
This time the law will apply to everyone,
though common sense says that giving a cita
tion to someone from another state for violat
ing our new tint law does not seem right.
Actually, the tint law was not enforced very
much last time, even on Georgians.
It is a good law.
Law enforcement officers, especially, are
pleased with it. Walking up to a vehicle with
windows so dark that it is impossible to see
the occupants can be unnecessarily danger
ous. Officers should not have to face the pos
sibility that the occupants of such a vehicle
are criminals who might shoot and kill them.
We hope that all law enforcement officers -
state, county and city - will strictly enforce
the new tint law.
Having it on the books without enforcement
does not make sense.
Should Jocks Be Favored?
The school board in Gwinnett County is
fired a high school teacher after he refused to
raise a football player’s grade on an assign
ment to passing.
The teacher is losing his job because of
insubordination.
Several hundred students are protesting the
action by the board. They say he is a superior
teacher.
However, the school board is sending a mes
sage loud and clear that making sure a jock
gets passing grades is more important than
having a good teacher in the classroom.
It's Just A Guessing Game
The guessing game goes on. It seems that
just about everyone with access to the media
has an opinion on what the results of BRAC
2005 will be.
Nobody knows anything at the moment.
Everything you hear and read, even from
members of congress, is speculation tinged
with a bit of hope.
So now is no time to get our hopes too high
or too low.
It is a game of wait and see.
Of course, we believe that Robins Air Force
Base is in great shape and will come out of
BRAC in great shape. Why shouldn’t we feel
that way?
Educational Insanity strikes in public school classrooms
Sometimes the insanity in
our public education system
mystifies and sickens me.
First off, let me establish
my street creds on this sub
ject. My mother was a life
long educator, and I have a
master’s in education and a
teaching certificate. It’s
from Tennessee, but it still
counts.
The first example of
Educational Insanity comes
from Gwinnett County.
Dacula High School science
teacher Larry Neace has a
policy that if you break any
of his rules, such as falling
asleep in class, you will be
subject to a grade penalty.
The rules are set forth in his
syllabus, which has to be
signed by parents at the
start of the semester. Last
month, Neace, a 23-year
teacher, gave out an assign
ment in class. One of the
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Timothy Graham
Staff Writer
tgraham@evansnewspapers.com
students, a football player,
was asleep when the assign
ment was given. The stu
dent found out what the
assignment was later and
turned it in the next day, but
Neace cut his grade in half
for being asleep when the
assignment was given.
He was blind but he has his driver's license
Many years ago I had an
uncle who was blind. He was
a veteran of World War II
and he loved to pull his vet
eran’s driver’s license out of
his pocket and show every
one that he could drive an
automobile legally.
Of course, he never tried
to drive a car, but his point
was well taken. He was
blind and he had a driver’s
license and it was possible
that there were thousands
of Georgians with limited
eyesight on the streets and
highways of the state driv
ing vehicles everyday.
I was reminded of him
when I read that Georgians
no longer will have their
eyesight tested every four
years to get their driver’s
licenses, unless they are 64
or older.
Maybe this is a good new
law. I doubt it.
One of the excuses for
eliminating eye exams to get
licenses renewed is that sev
eral other states do not
require eye exams. Now we
can join them in having peo-
Study says: Fat + Happy = Old
I was depressed.
Looking in the mirror, I
discovered the presence of a
new chin. I named him Sid.
But my spirits, and Sid,
were soon lifted by that
fountain of positive informa
tion - the news.
This from The New York
Times: A report in the
Journal of the American
Medical Association con
cludes that people who are
overweight but not obese
have a lower risk of death
than those of normal weight
or who are skinny.
I celebrated the glory of
this pronouncement by eat
ing an entire bag of Doritos,
then bathing in fudge ripple
ice cream. I then had to
bathe again in regular water
because I was rather sticky.
The research was conduct
ed by statisticians and epi
demiologists from the
National Cancer Institute
and Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, and
was the “most rigorous yet”
on the effects of weight on
life span, according to the
story.
Of course, we really didn’t
need a bunch of epidemiolo
gists - which I believe are
bug doctors - to tell us this.
It’s all common sense.
Think about it. What is one
of the top killers in the
world? Car accidents. If your
body maintains its own air
bag of flab, you are more
likely to survive a car acci
dent. Likewise, if you’re as
hefty as a praying mantis
and catch some unfortunate
disease or ailment, you’ll
succumb much quicker than
someone with a few months
of healthy girth on them.
And, of course, if you’re
stranded on some desert isle
with no food supply, the fat
guy is always the last one
standing - or perhaps sit
ting, eating the remains of
the thin and previously
The student’s father com
plained to the principal who
ordered Neace to rescind the
grade penalty. Neace refused
and he was suspended.
Friday the school board
voted 3-1 to fire him despite
his exemplary record and
strong support for Neace
from the student body.
The second example
comes from Columbus,
where Spencer High School
junior Kevin Francois was
eating lunch when he got a
cell phone call from his
mother who is serving in
Iraq. Francois went outside
the building to take the call,
where he was spotted by a
teacher who ordered him to
turn in his cell phone. He
refused to hang up on his
mother and was sent home.
The principal said Francois
got a break when he was
“only” suspended for ten
Foy Evans
Columnist
foye vans 19@cox.net
pie with valid driver’s
licenses who can barely see
or not see at all.
This may be a great step
toward making our high
ways safer. If it is, the entire
thing makes sense.
As old as I am, I will have
to take eye exams periodi
cally, and if I cannot see well
enough to drive safely, I
hope they will not renew my
license. I believe I would
quit, anyway.
• • •
I have read that buyers
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Len Robbins
Columnist
airpub@planttel.net
smug.
Unfortunately, after my
gluttonous frolic in yummi
ness, I read the rest of the
story.
The study assessed weight
by body mass index (BMI). A
BMI of 18.5 to 25 is consid
ered normal, according to
the'study. Overweight is a
BMI of 25-30, and obese is
30-35. The study said “over
weight” people lived longer.
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days instead of being arrest
ed.
The Neace episode dis
plays two problems with
public education today. The
first is the failure of admin
istrative personnel to sup
port their teachers. Neace
has a policy that has worked
well for him for more than
20 years in the classroom,
but as soon as an angry par
ent puts some pressure on
the principal, the adminis
trator caves and refuses to
back his teacher.
The second problem is the
difficulty of maintaining dis
cipline in the classroom.
The school board said that
it is a district policy not to
use grade reduction as a dis
ciplinary tool. What is a
teacher supposed to use -
harsh language? Wait, they
cannot do that either. I sup
pose Neace should have soft-
are paying thousands above
new retail prices for used
hybrid (gasoline and elec
tric) automobiles to save
money on gasoline. These
must be the same people
who believe that Social
Security is a good invest
ment.
• • •
It is becoming obvious
that President Bush is get
ting nowhere with his plan
to “save” Social Security
and give younger genera
tions an opportunity to
invest some of their Social
Security payments for them
selves. This seems like a
good time to stop spending
valuable political capital on
what appears to be a dead
horse, declare victory and
move on to more pressing
issues.
• • •
What President Bush is
trying to do for Social
Security makes sense.
Young people seem to be for
it. But Democrats, AARF
labor unions and other self
serving groups are muster
But BMI doesn’t take into
account body type. For
instance, using the BMI
scale used by the study,
President Bush, actors
George Clooney, Vin Diesel
and Will Smith, and athletes
Lebron James, Michael
Jordan and Karl Malone are
all “overweight.” Among the
“obese” are actors Tom
Cruise and Sylvester
Stallone, California
Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger, and ath
letes Donovan McNabb and
Steve McNair.
According to my BMI, I
too am in the “overweight”
category, although I don’t
look much like George
Clooney, other than we both
have ears. This study also
comes just a year after
another group of
researchers at another dis
ease control center went
bonkers about obesity and
being overweight and its
connection to premature
ly awakened the sleeping
student and asked if he
could please pay attention
for the remainder of class if
it was not too much of a
strain.
Could it be that the fact
that the student in question
was a football player might
have had a role in the prin
cipal’s decision? Nah.
The Francois incident is
just too stupid for words,
but it is way too typical.
A kid gets a call from his
mother - who is serving our
nation in the armed forces
in Iraq - and he is not
allowed to take the call even
though it is during his lunch
hour and he is outside the
school building. What was it
that kept the teacher who
saw him with the phone
from just saying “sorry” and
walking on when he told
them who he was talking to?
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
ing older people against it.
Politically, this country is
not ready to take action to
prevent any kind of crisis. A
crisis must overtake us
before any action is taken.
Otherwise, put off any solu
tion, like Scarlett O’Hara
said, because tomorrow is
another day.
• • •
Warner Robins has an
ordinance requiring devel
opers to put in sidewalks
within one mile of a school.
It has been ignored univer
sally. Councilman Dean
Cowart wants the ordinance
enforced. It should be. The
cost of the sidewalks would
be minimal, considering
what building lots are sell
ing for nowadays, and the
benefits would be enormous
for students walking to
school.
• • •
Now, joggers are another
thing. From what I am
observing joggers would
much rather run in the
street and risk getting hit by
car.
death.
And word is, yet another
group of scientists are com
ing out with another study
in coming months on the
subject. The report is titled,
“We Researchers Don’t
Really Know Crap About
Obesity.” Should be an
interesting read. Speaking
of reading, I have decided to
remember the first para
graph of the aforementioned
New York Times story and
forget the rest of whatever it
said.
I suggest you do the same.
I’m no scientist, but
methinks worrying about
your weight is what will kill
you quickest. So long, Sid.
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.
Are they breeding humanity
out of our teachers in college
these days? She is a single
mom and he is having to live
with a guardian while she is
deployed in Iraq. I’m sur
prised the kid didn’t smack
the teacher upside their
head.
I understand why schools
do not want students using
cell phones during class
hours. Easy call. But why
can’t they cut this kid some
slack when it comes to talk
ing to his mom in Iraq? Is
there no room in the rule
book for common sense and
human decency? Do admin
istrators have to turn off
their brains and put their
hearts in cold storage when
they cross over onto school
property?
And people wonder why
the waiting lists at private
schools are so long.