Newspaper Page Text
4A
TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2005
If t Houston Hrluuu' d
(Lm JJaurrotl
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
President,
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans Rex Gambill
Vice President Managing Editor
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
Validating Our Contentions
The fact that Robins Air Force Base was left off the
list of military bases recommended for closing or
realignment by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
validates what those of us here in Middle Georgia
have said all the time: Robins is an outstanding mili
tary base, efficiently operated by dedicated, compe
tent, patriotic Americans.
Robins did not get that way overnight. The founda
tion for today’s strength was laid many years ago
when officials took note of the fact that it did not
measure up to other logistics centers in several ways,
including the education level of its employees.
Commanding generals for nearly 30 years have
given high priority to making our logistics center a
model of efficiency and dependability.
The fact that Rumsfeld looked at Robins AFB and
decided that it was essential enough to the national
defense not to be considered for realignment or clo
sure is the payoff.
The Middle Georgia community has rallied around
the base and has done everything asked of it to pro
vide the environment and support that military instal
lations deserve.
Credit should be given where it belongs, though.
Retired Maj. Gen. Rick Goddard put it in context
when he said that a lot of people in Middle Georgia
have worked to support the base and may take part of
the credit, but the real heroes are the 23,000 person
nel at the base itself.
As far as we are concerned, there is enough credit to
go around. The important thing is that Robins AFB
was not on the list of installations submitted to the
Base Realignment and Closure Commission.
Of course, members of the commission can add to or
subtract from the list that Rumsfeld has sent to it. In
the last round of BRAC, Robins was pulled into con
sideration by BRAC because of politics. This time we
hope that the members of the BRAC Commission are
strong enough to withstand any outside political pres
sure and stick with the professional recommendations
of what is best for the national defense.
Until the BRAC Commission makes its recommen
dations to President Bush, we all must remain alert
and cannot let our guards down. Bases that made the
cut will be in the crosshairs of members of Congress
from states that are losers.
The fat lady has not sung yet, but she has cleared
her throat.
Letter writer fun ol bull
Editor:
Reference letters by Huckeba and
Gadbois, in Wednesday’s issue:
Great new revelations! Gadbois says he’s
not an atheist, and Nixon says he’s not a
crook! Oh, and Huckeba says Hitler was not
only a good Christian but a caring humanist
like Gadbois. Everybody that thinks Hitler
wasn’t the “mother of all atheists,” stand up
now and shout, “yahoo!” It’s damage con
trol/panic time, since they’ve been outed.
Gadbois first. He claims to be a Deist now.
However, he stated, when talking about his
group, “All of us don’t believe in God” -
direct quote. Yet, deists believe that God cre
ated the universe. How could He, if He does
n’t exist? Gadbois now says as a humanist,
he loves America. I served in three wars,
and I never saw a humanist/Deist in any of
them. So much for his pseudo-patriotism.
Huckeba bases his incredible revelation
Mayors behaving badly in the news
Four of the best stories I
ever heard started with:
“I don’t know if you know
anything about Brazilian
women, but...”
“It all started when I went
back to the halfway house to
get my cigarettes...”
“I knew I was in the
wrong place when a man
who looked just like Randall
‘Tex’ Cobb walked out of the
bathroom wearing an
evening gown - and he was
crying...”
“We were coming home
from the cockfight when...”
Add the presence of a
mayor in any of those sce
narios, and you’ve really got
a doozy - as many news
organizations are finding
out.
Recently, there have been
a spate of “mayors-behav-
on Hitler’s book, “My Struggle.” Bull! Hitler
wrote that he would rule the world through
a process of mobilizing the masses with
propaganda that appealed to their feelings,
not their reasoning, and arouse hatred for
all others. Huckeba was correct in his view
though, that Hitler’s brainwashing had to
start early to be effective. Well, we know at
least two people that it worked very well on.
No matter what mantle these two don, or
what group they join, it’s like the rose ... it
will always smell the same.
Russ Norris
Warner Robins
Vision exams
necessary for drivers
Editor:
Len Robbins
Columnist
airpub@planttel.net
ing-badly” stories in the
news. Here are just a few
that have made headlines
lately:
• Blue Ridge mayor
accused of participating in
cockfighting ring.
Local hospital is a blessing
As we observed Hospital
Week, my thoughts went
back to the time when we
did not have a hospital in
Warner Robins, Perry or
Houston County. If we need
ed hospital care, we had to
go to Macon.
It was not until the mid-
Fifties that there was
enough support for a local
hospital to try to get one.
And it was not easy.
Houston County took
steps to get a Hill-Burton
hospital, to be built in
Warner Robins. There was
strong support in some
areas. There was opposition,
too, from some who did not
want a small tax increase to
help pay for the hospital.
However, elected officials
and civic leaders joined
forces and campaigned
throughout the county for
support. A bond issue to pay
local costs was approved
after spirited debate.
We had a private clinic in
Warner Robins at the time.
It was owned and operated
s'
LETTBIS TO THE BIITOR
According to a story in the
Atlanta Journal-
Constitution last week, Blue
Ridge (population 1,200)
Mayor Robert Greene, 83,
was arrested recently on
gambling charges after GBI
officials allegedly caught the
mayor watching cockfights
from a ringside recliner
marked “reserved seating.”
According to the story, up to
300 spectators bought food
and drinks at the weekly
events, even purchasing
souvenirs as children as
young as 3 and 4 years old
watched the chickens fight
to their deaths.
Chief among my many
questions is: Exactly what
kind of souvenirs are they
selling at illegal cockfights?
I probably don’t want to
know.
Foy Evans
Columnist
foyevans 19@cox.net
by Drs. VW. McEver Jr.,
William G. Talbert Jr. and
Dan Callahan. They sup
ported the effort to get a
hospital enthusiastically
and agreed to close their pri
vate clinic if voters approved
one.
When the 50-bed hospital
opened in Warner Robins, it
was a banner day. It was
another major step toward
solidifying Warner Robins’
determination to become a
"Gosh...that last one sounded close!"
I read Foy Evans’ article about Georgians
no longer having their vision checked when
renewing their driver’s license, and just had
to voice my opinion on the matter, since this
one really hit home with me.
In August 2004, I lost one of my brothers
in an accident. A man attempted to make a
left-hand turn and turned into the path of
my brother, who was riding a motorcycle.
The man who caused this accident is blind
in one eye. After the accident, he stated that
he did not see my brother.
It seems to me that the lawmakers need to
enforce stronger visual testing for licenses
instead of doing away with them completely.
Had they done, this there is a chance that
my brother would still be here today.
Janell Icard Hughes
Warner Robins
• Mayor accused of using
city credit card for gambling
money on riverboat casino.
Lyn Howard, the mayor of
Pekin, 111. (population
33,857), pleaded not guilty
last month to charges that
he used a city-issued credit
card for cash advances on
three separate occasions at a
riverboat casino.
A majority of the city
council has asked Howard,
67, to resign, but the first
term mayor is staying put
and claims he did nothing
wrong. Stepping down, he
said in a press release,
“would almost be an admis
sion that I did something
illegal. I don’t feel that I
did.”
• Spokane mayor accused
of molesting two boys
decades ago.
city with a future, rather
than hanging on the
precipice of extinction.
The Houston Healthcare
Complex that provides med
ical care to all of Houston
County with hospitals in
Warner Robins and Perry,
and Med-Stop clinics is a far
cry from the hospital we had
50 years ago. Of course, you
can expect major changes in
personnel, facilities and
technology and growth in
half a century.
I have undergone surgery
six times in the hospital
since it opened - five major,
one minor.
This reminds me of the
day that Dr. McEver and I
agreed on a minor surgical
procedure. As I left
McEver’s office I ran into
the late Dr. Wentford
Spears.
He asked me what I was
doing at the office.
I said, “Dr. McEver is
going to perform minor sur
gery on me.”
He said, “Has anyone ever
HHJ columnist off-base
Editor:
Your Wednesday columnist W.J. Hagan
reminds me why I have been a lifelong mem
ber of the ACLU.
He wants to ban all sex offenders from
Georgia by banning them “from coming
within 100 feet of any child, anywhere.”
This proposed law would be declared uncon
stitutional by our courts in no time at all!
This law would send a message to the rest of
America that we really deserve to be ranked
50th in education and schools!
This columnist makes the rest of us look
worse than we really are! We are a much
kinder, wiser citizenry who quickly recog
nize cruelty towards others who are humans
too.
Frank W. Gadbois
Warner Robins
James West, 54, the mayor
of Spokane, Wash, (popula
tion 195,629), was accused
in a newspaper story of
molesting two Boy Scouts
decades ago and trying to
lure a young man on a gay
Web site.
But the “young man” was
actually a computer expert
hired by the Spokesman-
Review newspaper as part of
a journalistic sting opera
tion.
According to print reports,
West has admitted to offer
ing sports memorabilia and
a possible internship to the
person he thought was an
18-year-old on the Web site,
but adamantly denies the
allegations that he molested
the Boy Scouts when he was
their troop leader in the late
’7os-early ’Bos. Both of the
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
told you what minor surgery
is?”
I said, “No.”
Then Dr. Spears told me,
“Minor surgery is surgery
on someone else.”
I have remembered that.
When our hospital opened
in the mid-Fifties we all
knew each other. Warner
Robins was a small town. We
knew all the doctors. We
knew all the nurses. We
knew all the staff. It was like
a big oversize family.
Houston County has
grown dramatically So has
the hospital. So has the
number of doctors, nurses
and staff. I personally know
only a few of them.
However, the hospital has
retained an atmosphere you
don’t find in larger hospi
tals. Though personnel
changed through the years,
each time I have been a
patient I felt like I was
among home folks. That
helps.
accusers have drug arrests
in their criminal back
ground.
West is a staunch
Republican conservative
who is the former majority
leader of the Washington
state Senate.
Suddenly, Mayor Teddy
Burnside of “Carter
Country” looks downright
regal.
Like Hizzoner, I prefer my
stories end with a laugh, not
a shower.
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.