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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 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
Will There Be Two SPLOBTB?
A burning question for taxpayers of Houston
County is whether there will be one or two
SPLOSTS to vote on before this year is out.
The Houston County Board of Education
already is on record with plans for another
Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax referen
dum.
An aggressive public relations campaign is well
underway to educate the public on the need for
another SPLOST for the school system to meet
its obligations to provide adequate facilities to
educate the rapidly growing enrollment.
Superintendent Danny Carpenter and Board
Chairwoman Pamela Greenway have taken their
individual presentations to local civic groups. The
presentations are very impressive and have been
receiving praise and support.
As the deadline for the referendum approaches
we can expect the drumbeats to become louder.
Obviously the school board has a good story to
tell and the need is there for money to implement
projects that will be included.
The county commissioners, too, have their
needs.
Roads are a top priority. More people are affect
ed by the traffic problems on the crowded roads of
Houston County than any other activity.
If the commissioners agree to ask for another
one-cent sales tax, when the present SPLOST
expires, the question arises whether voters will
approve it.
If complaints about roads are translated into a
“yes” vote then a SPLOST for the commissioners’
needs is a sure thing.
Present SPLOSTS for the board of education
and the county will expire soon. Voters will not be
asked to increase sales tax in Houston County
above the present seven percent. Any new
SPLOSTS will only continue the sales tax at its
present level.
The commissioners have not committed them
selves yet. However, we believe that they are in a
position where they will have to seek more money
for capital improvements if they want to keep up
with the county’s emergence as one of the fastest
growing and most progressive in the state of
Georgia.
All the cards must be put on the table soon if
they wish to inform the public sufficiently to gain
the support needed for success.
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My hometown has a criminal record
I know that a lot of people
around here come from
other locations in this great
land of ours, but I doubt if
any of you come from a place
as interesting as my home
town.
If you want proof, see if
you can follow this link to an
article from the Knoxville
News-Sentinel:
www. knoxne ws. com/kns/1
ocal_news/article/0,1406,KN
5_347_3850865,00.html
If the link does not work,
sorry, but the newspaper
does make me pay for this
info, so maybe they don’t let
great news like this out for
free.
For those who can’t get
the story in its entirety, the
basic facts are that federal
officials raided a cockfight in
rural Cocke County in
Tennessee on Saturday and
Timothy Graham
Staff Writer
tgraham@evansnewspapers.com
arrested more than 140 peo
ple and killed more than 300
roosters. This was apparent
ly the largest cockfight raid
in the history of this great
republic of ours.
Let me identify where we
are talking about geographi
cally. Cocke County is locat
ed in East Tennessee about
Sharing history, furniture and roosters
The people of Perry are
blessed to have neighbors
who recall from a first-per
son standpoint the interest
ing history of this communi
ty and a willingness to share
it.
One of those special
Perryans (yes, this is a word!
Out-of-towners are always
asking me about it.) is
Charles Shelton.
He shares knowledge and
photographs of the
Confederate monument that
stands watch over Carroll
Street at the former court
house.
Three photos he kindly
emailed show the monu
ment in what appears to be
different locations in down
town Perry.
In the first, which he
believes to be the oldest, the
border that appears around
it in later photos is missing.
I wonder if this is the
same border workers recent
ly unearthed while digging
up the roots of nearby trees
that were taken down?
The next photo (pictured
on this page) is most inter
esting. The border has
appeared and a Model T is
parked next to the court
house!
Mr. Shelton also points
out that the one-story build
ing in the background is the
former Coffee Cup on the
corner of Ball and Carroll
streets (now an office for
Houston Springs).
Another photo was taken
before the first courthouse
was demolished, he says,
and includes a small arrow
with the name Hawkinsville
pointing the way to that
town. He goes on to say that
Howard Dean's revisionist history
I had a good laugh last
week when Howard Dean,
chairman of the Democratic
National Committee,
declared that the
Republican Party was made
up of White Christians.
Unless it’s a crime to be
Caucasian and Christian in
this country, I am pretty
sure Howard Dean is bark
ing up the wrong tree in his
stated campaign to, among
other things, take back the
south for the Democratic
party.
Unfortunately for Dean,
both political parties have
very diversified electorates,
as Chairman Dean is, no
doubt, aware of this. In fact,
it is probably his biggest
problem in trying to paint
the Republicans as the
“party of evil white men”
and Nazis. According to a
recent study by Rutgers
University, politically active
people between the age of 18
and 25 - the future of our
electorate - no longer choose
their political affiliation
based on race. Thirty-two
percent of whites in that age
bracket are Republicans,
while 30 percent of whites
are Democrats. Twenty -
seven percent of African-
Americans and 29 percent of
Hispanics are Republicans.
45 miles east of Knoxville. It
is on the Tennessee-North
Carolina line and it is just
north of Sevier County and
Dollywood. If it wasn’t for
Interstate 40, Cocke County
would probably be one of the
ten poorest counties in the
country. Now all we can
shoot for is one of the ten
poorest in the state.
Some communities have
tourist attractions like the
Grand Canyon or the Loch
Ness Monster, but my home
town has Olympic-size cock
fights.
Oh, and for those who
wonder about these sorts of
things, the Cocke in Cocke
County is from a
Revolutionary War colonel
and not the battling roost
ers.
Cocke County has always
been sort of on the cutting
edge of illegal activities.
Back in the early years of
Emily Johnstone
Columnist
ejohnstone@evansnewspapers.com
“Regardless, it was a gather
ing place for some of the
local men to sit and solve
many of the problems on
any subject. When they
weren’t there young boys
would play around it.
During World War II a large
sign was placed next to it
with the names of all
Houston County men and
women in the service.”
Like others, Shelton is sad
to see the large trees around
the present building come
down.
I understand there is a
landscaping plan for the
square. We will see if it pass
es muster with Perryans
when it is complete!
• • •
Tina Simms, a volunteer
for the National Alliance for
the Mentally 111-Central
Georgia (also a great writer
and super smart lady!) lets
us know that the local
NAMI-operated shelter,
New Hope, in Warner
Robins is in need of used
furniture that is in good
shape.
New Hope, home for 10
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William John Hagan
Columnist
William_Hagan@excite.com
As African-Americans com
prise only 13 percent of the
population, the data shows
that the Republican Party is
truly diversified. The statis
tics not only demonstrate
Howard Dean’s lack of
knowledge, but show that he
is more than eager to play
the race card then pull
straying party sheeplings
back into the fold.
The reality is that the
Democratic Party’s histori
cal treatment of African-
Americans is one of segrega
tion, not inclusion. In fact,
the Republican Party was
founded to - and did - put
an end slavery, while the
Democratic Party served as
its major proponent. Slavery
the 20th century, we were
big into moonshine. More
than one county sheriff lost
his life in the so-called
Moonshine Wars before the
nasty revenuers came in to
take charge. It wasn’t like
the sheriffs were trying to
clean up the county - they
just picked the wrong group
of shiners to take bribes
from.
Next came the marijuana
growers and the high tide
there came in the seventies
when High Times magazine
stated that Cocke County
grew the best pot this side of
Hawaii.
Lately there has been an
upsurge in the meth cooking
industry but through all the
years there has been one
constant: cockfighting.
Cockfighting is an evil,
cruel and morally repugnant
activity. Calling it a sport is
an insult to sports, and it
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CONFEDERATE MONUMENT
clients, has furniture that
has been there for a couple
of decades and is simply
wearing out, she says.
Anyone who would like to
make a donation can call her
at 988-8560.
Items on their wish list,
from greatest need on down,
include: dishwasher, com
puter desks, dining room
table with six chairs, office
desks, refrigerator, living
room sets, twin bedroom
sets, lamps for living room
and bedrooms, stereo sys
tem, television, VCR and
DVD and entertainment
stand/chest. They would
also appreciate nice framed
pictures!
• • •
Is it all the rain? An alli
gator apparently decided to
make like a Perry squirrel
and sit in the middle of the
roadway Sunday afternoon
near the intersection of
Arena and Kings Chapel
roads.
I understand the fire
department was called to
bring their hoses and
encourage it to move out of
the way.
was America’s holocaust
against Africans: 12 million
slaves were transported to
the United States, and out
of this number 1.2 million
died in transit. Many more
died a gruesome death once
in the United States as they
were worked, whipped, and
lynched to death. This is the
Democratic Party’s true
legacy, one they have never
apologized for. Instead they
have wrongfully painted the
Republican Party as an
exclusionary party of white
segregationists when it was
the Republicans who freed
the slaves and enforced
court-ordered desegregation
during Eisenhower’s era.
We all know what the
result of the policies of
Democratic Party was - the
Civil War, or what Southern
Democrats such as former
Ku Klux Klan member Sen.
Robert Byrd of West
Virginia might call “The
War of Northern
Aggression.” In this war,
498,232 soldiers died fight
ing for both the Union and
the Confederacy in a war
that was the direct result of
Democratic politicians sup
porting the immoral institu
tion of slavery. Good pre
vailed on the battlefield and
African-Americans were
gives cockfighting a legiti
macy it does not deserve.
But for some reason it
appeals to a certain strata of
the redneck race. And too
dang many of them seem to
live in the hills of East
Tennessee.
I’ve been to the site of this
cockfight arena back when it
was raided in the past. You
could probably seat about
500 fans there and it is quite
a sophisticated set-up when
you consider that the activi
ty it is associated with is ille
gal anywhere that considers
itself civilized.
The money shot of this
article is in the attached
story. There is talk of feder
al agents, the Humane
Society, and the District
Attorney General being
involved in the raid. But
there is no mention of the
local sheriffs department
being along for the ride. The
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
• • •
I received a cute email
from Curtis Greer that con
tains a poem about pennies
folks find in parking lots,
etc.
The author (unknown)
says his or her grandfather
told them the pennies are
tossed from heaven to make
us smile when we come
across one!
It made me think of some
thing I like to do, though I
have not done this in
awhile.. .when getting back
change from a drink or
snack machine, just leave
the change and imagine the
look on the person’s face
who finds it!!
• • •
Recent rains cannot
dampen the spirits of the
Perry Farmer’s Market!
The red-and-white display
tables and awnings are very
eye-appealing and the roos
ter perched atop a pole in
front (crafted by the City’s
own Bob Taylor) is the cat’s
meow!
See you there next
Saturday morning!
afforded some human
rights, but it wasn’t long
before the Democratic Party
was fighting hard to take
them away.
Lacking a belief that all
men were created equal,
“the Ku Klux Klan operated
as the de facto terrorist arm
of the national Democratic
Party during
Reconstruction,” according
to Mackubin T. Owens of
Ashland University. After
Reconstruction it was the
Democrats who came up
with the “separated and
anything but equal” Jim
Crow laws that resulted in
segregation and the restric
tion of voting rights. Even
the definitive liberal mouth
piece PBS claims that, “The
Democratic Party identified
itself as the ‘white man’s
party’” and demonized the
Republican Party as being
‘(African-American) domi
nated.”
Howard Dean certainly
has a right, as well as an
overwhelming desire to
erase his party’s true legacy;
the only thing Americans
should wonder is why any
African, or God-fearing,
American would join him.
William John Hagan is a
freelance writer who lives in
Elko. Contact him at
William_Hagan@excite.com
same thing is true for every
major meth raid, marijuana
bust or moonshine arrest
during the past half-century.
We once had deputies
arrive at an accident site on
the interstate where a
truckload of microwave
ovens had wrecked. The first
thing they did was fill up
their trunks and then they
investigated the accident.
We also had a sheriff
arrested for being the flag
man for an airplane bring
ing marijuana into the coun
ty-
It would seem that being a
bad guy in Cocke County is a
profitable calling as long as
you keep your payments to
the local cops up to date.
Beautiful scenery, friendly
people, but a tradition of
corruption a mile long.
When you grumble about
where you live, consider the
alternatives.