Newspaper Page Text
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♦ FRIDAY, JULY 8. 2005
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OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
President,
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Arbitration A Bootl Next Step
The dispute over who has to pay for correcting
flaws in the new Juvenile Justice Department is
going to arbitration.
This is the least expensive way to solve the dis
pute, which has reached a stalemate.
A long, drawn-out lawsuit would be too expensive
and time consuming. Arbitration will save money
and time.
The county seeks a permanent solution to the
problems, mainly leaks. County Commission
Chairman Ned Sanders wants the architect and
general contractor to come up with that solution.
Fortunately, the problem was discovered before
the building was occupied, though it was a close
call.
Had furniture and files been moved the water
problem could have been very costly and would
have hindered work of the court.
We hope that arbitration will settle the issue to
the satisfaction of county taxpayers.
Not A Moment Too Soon
The Houston Lake Road widening project, which
has been going on for years and without any com
pletion apparently in sight, continues.
A completion date for phase II between Ga. 96 and
Ga. 127 is scheduled for completion in October of
this year.
Meanwhile, phase I between Russell Parkway and
Ga. 96 is still far from completion, with the con
tractor paying daily fines for failure to meet con
tract deadlines.
The work has been going on so long many people
have trouble remembering when it began.
The latest promised completion date is this sum
mer. Maybe it will be completed. Maybe it won’t.
Nobody is willing to put down any bets that the
latest deadline will be met.
Meanwhile, motorists are impatient. And they are
unforgiving at the present time.
Perhaps when the work is completed, motorists
will forget how long they have waited and how
much they have been inconvenienced for so long a
period of time.
The widened road is badly needed - especially
phase I, which handles so much traffic south of
Russell Parkway in Warner Robins.
Perhaps work on phase II will proceed on sched
ule. We hope so.
Then there will be the final phase, which will pro
vide four lanes from the intersection of Houston
Lake Road and Ga. 127 to the Perry bypass.
Because of the rapid growth in population in our
county and an accompanying increase in the num
ber of vehicles all roadwork naturally falls behind
need. When roads for which contracts have been let
fail to come through on schedule it is doubly trou
bling and inconvenient.
HOW TO SUBMIT LfTTBS
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should not exceed 350 words and must include the writer's
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There are three ways to submit a letter to the editor: E-mail
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Journal at P.O. Box 1910, Perry, GA 31069, or drop it off at
1210 Washington St. in Perry.
WRPD needs more space
Editor:
The ongoing campaign by the Warner
Robins Police Department to ticket
motorists who run red traffic signals is long
overdue. Motorists who run red lights
endanger all our lives and must be taught
the errors of their ways by fining them
heavily! Starting out at SBS will get their
attention quick enough. If not, let’s raise
the fines.
It would also be appropriate for our police
chief to have a room where citizens can
speak to a police officer in private versus in
the hallway, which is the current situation.
Privacy is important at times and this is
especially true when there are folks seated
all around you listening to what you have to
say to an officer! This is a deterrent to citi-
Rex Gambill
Managing Editor
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
The meaning of democracy
I write this on
Independence Day, July 4,
2005. As I write, I am
reminded of what I read in
Jon Meacham’s book,
“Franklin and Winston,”
where Meacham quotes
from E.B. White’s World
War II article in The New
Yorker magazine on “The
Meaning of Democracy.”
Here is part of what
Meacham says that White
wrote on democracy.
• It is the line that forms
on the right.
• It is the don’t in don’t
shove.
• Democracy is the recur
rent suspicion that more
than half the people are
right more than half the
time.
• Democracy is a letter to
the editor
• Democracy is the score
at the beginning of the
ninth.
• It’s the mustard on the
hot dog and the cream in the
rationed coffee.
I love it! Don’t you? It is so
good that it makes me want
to write my own version of
what democracy means to
me, so here goes.
Securing terror target l\lo. 1
NORTHERN PERSIAN
GULF, AL BASRAH OIL
TERMINAL - Desert and
ocean - sand and salt - liter
ally collide in the brown
white haze above the blue
water of the Persian Gulf.
It’s noon, 109 degrees, and
I’m standing next to a U.S.
Navy petty officer who mans
a machine gun on the A 1
Basrah Oil Terminal’s
(ABOT) shade-less upper
deck, 16 miles off the Iraqi
mainland. ABOT’s the tight
spot where oil and water
meet, if not quite mix.
The petty officer adjusts
his camouflage boonie hat
and points toward the hori
zon. “Alfa sector,” he says.
Two kilometers west of
ABOT, the cruiser USS
Normandy shimmers in the
haze as it slowly patrols the
maritime exclusion zone
around “Iraq’s terror target
No. 1.”
“Terror target No. 1” is a
big-time claim, but then
ABOT and its decrepit
cousin, KAAOT - Khawr A 1
Amaya Oil Terminal - are
huge oil spigots. In the last
six months, ABOT has
pumped 270 million barrels
of crude into oil tankers -
and put roughly sl4 billion
into Iraq’s desperate treas
ury.
“We feel like we’re guard
ing Iraq’s economy,” the
Normandy’s commander,
Capt. Stephen Hampton,
told me before I took the
boat ride from his cruiser to
ABOT.
Originally designed to pro
tect the fleet from Soviet
aircraft, and now capable of
firing anti-ballistic missiles,
super-cruisers like the
Normandy have become
high-tech and low-tech
counter-terror warriors.
Stroll the Normandy’s deck,
and you’ll find twin 50-cal
iber machine guns reminis
cent of World War II PT
boats. The cruiser also
sports 25 mm chain guns
like those found on Army
Bradley armored vehicles.
zens who come to the police station and are
nervous or uneasy!
Councilman Steve Smith has tried to help
me with this matter but he has told me we
shall have to wait until space is available.
Maybe the mayor can help us.
Frank W. Gadbois
Warner Robins
An open totter to the gover
nor
Editor:
This letter was sent to Gov. Perdue. I ask
everyone reading this who supports this
effort to contact your state representatives
and the governor encouraging them to take
the necessary legislative action.
LETTBtS TO THE EDITOR
Jr
■'ll
Larry Walker
Columnist
lwalker9whgbc.com
• It is the Constitution of
the United States including
the Bill of Rights.
• It’s freedom of religion
and, yes, freedom from reli
gion.
• Democracy is the “gen
eral welfare” and promoting
the “common good.”
• It’s choosing billiard
halls and bars over books,
and living with your choices
for the remainder of your
life.
• It’s home-schooling and
no makeup and homes with
out television.
• It’s doing something
f Wg
Jj[e ■
Austin Bay
Military Affairs
Creators Syndicate
“The machine guns may be
lower-tech than our other
systems,” Hampton
observed, “but they are the
right tech for stopping small
boats.”
He meant small boats
manned by terrorists -
speedboats or dhows that
could target coalition naval
vessels or the oil terminals.
“If it’s a choice between my
ship and ABOT,” Hampton
said tersely, “I’ll put my ship
between the terrorist boat
and the oil terminal. This
mission’s that important.”
ABOT’s decks and skele
tal metal walkways have an
impressive arsenal of heavy
infantry weapons - machine
guns, an automatic cannon,
40 mm auto
matic grenade
launchers.
Bullet holes
and shrapnel
scars in
ABOT’s sheds
and catwalks
give the maze
like terminal a
post-apoca
lypse feel - the
holes are
lethal graffiti
left by Navy
SEALs who
attacked the
terminal in
2 0 0 3.
Approximately
two-dozen
sailors from
the Navy’s
Mobile
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Dear Gov. Perdue,
Sir, it is with deep concern that I write
this letter. It is about the danger faced every
day on our Georgia interstate highways. If
you are driving on the outside lane at 70
mph, there will be a truck 10 feet off your
bumper forcing you go faster. If you drive in
the middle lane, the trucks are pushing you
at 80 mph to go faster. In the inside or pass
ing lane these trucks will push you at 90
mph to go faster. Sir, this causes drivers to
constantly shift lanes to allow these trucks
to pass. Almost any day of the week there
will be several accidents within our inter
state system caused by this dangerous prac
tice. I have driven in every state within the
lower 48 states and I sincerely believe our
state is by far the most dangerous.
Some states manage this problem by hav-
about those early bad deci
sions of bars and billiard
halls over books.
• Democracy is the politi
cal sign in your front yard
and the bumper sticker on
your car even when you
know your candidate is not
going to win.
• It’s the debate about
abortion and stem-cell
research and Social Security
reform and gun control.
• Democracy is bloggers
and chat-rooms and out
sourcing and offshoring.
• It’s starting a business
and starting a movement
and starting a new church
and starting a family.
• Democracy is salad with
no cucumbers and hold the
onions and “please give me
the dressing on the side.”
• It’s Kmart putting Jones
Hardware out of business
and Wal-Mart practically
putting Kmart out of busi
ness and people keeping
Wal-Mart out of their com
munities.
• Democracy is being in
the minority but still being
right or being in the majori
ty and still being wrong.
• It’s freedom, but realiz
Security Detachment 25
man ABOT’s observation
posts. Today, four Iraqi
marines are also on the ter
minal.
Yes, Iraqi marines. By
early 2006, there will be a
battalion of them assigned
to protect oil platforms and
port facilities.
“We’re training them to
take over the defense mis
sion,” Navy Lt. Cmdr.
Christopher Jacobsen tells
me. Jacobsen, from Incline
Village, Nev., commands the
sailors defending ABOT.
“We’re training about a pla
toon of Iraqis every week.
Training them on how to
integrate with coalition
naval forces in the area.”
Integrate is a key word.
The Iraqi marine on the
other side of the deck cer
tainly knows how to handle
his machine gun. Effective
integration, however, means
communicating with coali
tion naval forces and using
intelligence data.
“Your sailors’ positions
remind me of Army road
blocks in Baghdad,” I say.
“Except you face boats with
bombs, not cars.”
The husky Jacobsen
replies with a grim smile.
“We’re the last line of
defense. But there are a lot
ing the truck speed 5 mph lower than auto
mobiles. I know this would not be looked on
favorably by the trucking industry but will
help improve the safety of people traveling
our interstate system.
I request that you travel our interstate
system in a private vehicle and see for your
self the dangers faced everyday by the peo
ple traveling them. This violation by the
trucking industry makes a mockery of the
speed limits posted by the state of Georgia.
As governor of the state of Georgia, you
have the authority to correct this situation.
Please, sir, give this your total considera
tion.
Jack H. Wilbourne
Warner Robins
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
ing it can be lost from with- •
in or from without.
• Democracy is no estab
lished religion but realizing
people must act in a “reli
gious way” if freedom is to
survive.
Interestingly, I have three
books on my end table. The
first, “A Deficit of Decency”
by Zell Miller, I just finished
reading. I am presently
reading “The World Is Flat”
by Thomas Friedman. After
Friedman’s book will be
“1776” by David
McCullough. McCullough’s
book has to do with how we
got started with this won
derful idea (manifested into
reality) called democracy.
Miller’s book talks of where
we are and what he thinks
we must do to keep freedom
as we know it. And
Friedman’s book - scary at
times - tells us where he
thinks we are headed. I am
fascinated by all of this and
can only hope that E.B.
White was right when he
wrote that “ ... more than
half the people are right
more than half the time.”
of ships out there watching.
And aircraft.”
A 3-kilometer maritime
exclusion zone surrounds
ABOT, but KAAOT gets
tricky. “It’s right on the
Iranian border,” Jacobsen
says, pointing toward Iran.
U.S. and Iranian relations
around the terminals are
“courteous and profession
al.” Those are the words of
Australian Commodore
Steve Gilmore, commander
of coalition naval operations
in the northern Persian
Gulf. Gilmore - the
Australian equivalent of a
one-star rear admiral - has
his headquarters on board
the Normandy. “The Iranian
Navy is a professional force,
and they understand our
mission,” Gilmore replied
when I asked about Iran.
“We respect them and their
rights, as well.”
Iraqi marines will eventu
ally replace American
sailors defending ABOT. But
the proximity of Iran, and
the threat of water-borne
terrorists, means coalition
naval forces will remain “on
call” for several years.
To find out more about
Austin Bay, visit the
Creators Syndicate web page
at www.creators.com.