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♦ SATURDAY, JULY 9, 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
Police Action Justified
Anything like the riot that broke out at an
unauthorized block party in Perry last weekend is
unacceptable, and police should have the whole
hearted support of the mayor, council and com
munity in cracking down on such activity.
Guns were fired, officers were assaulted, one
officer was severely injured and a man was shot.
This is unacceptable.
Police Chief George Potter has a done an out
standing job of keeping a lid on such criminal
activity in the past and we are confident that,
with community support, he will deal harshly
with such troublemakers in the future.
A riot such as this is out of character for Perry
and all of Houston County. When the word gets
out that it will not be tolerated anywhere in our
county and real force will be used by law enforce
ment under such circumstances, it is unlikely
that there will be such occurrences in the future.
No excuses for such behavior are acceptable.
Cameras on police cars caught much of the
action. Surely it will be possible to identify many
of the people who fired guns and attacked police
officers. Every effort should be made to identify
them and prosecute every one of them.
Tolerance of such actions will only encourage
other would-be rioters to try the same thing.
Whether to call them hoodlums is a matter of
semantics. They acted like hoodlums and that is
what counts.
Apparently there are a lot of unregistered guns
out there. Shakedowns of suspects seem to be in
order.
The way to keep something like this from
becoming a habit is to make it too expensive, in
several ways.
Anyone tempted to oppose efforts by law
enforcement officers to contain rowdy crowds and
arrest hoodlums who attack them should consid
er the seriousness of these actions and lend their
support to keeping our county free of such law
lessness.
To SERV And Protect
Operation SERY Warner Robins’ crackdown of
motorists who run red lights was a whopping suc
cess.
During a period of 10 days tickets were issued to
271 red light violators. The fine was SB3 each.
The City Council is considering a suggestion that
the fine be doubled in the future.
An additional benefit of the crackdown was tick
ets were issued for DUI and child restraint viola
tions, bringing the total number of citations dur
ing the crackdown to 404.
Anyone who drives in Warner Robins is aware
of the danger that lurks at intersections, where
running red lights is as routine as the changing of
the signals.
Perhaps this crackdown will give these violators
cause to stop instead of endangering the lives of
others. We hope so.
We hope that officers will continue giving spe
cial attention to the busiest intersections with
traffic lights even though the concentrated crack
down has expired.
Send your letters to die Editor to:
The Houston Home journal
P.O. Box 1910 • Perry, Ga 31069 or
Email: hhj@evansnewspapers.com
Sadbote' comments racist, incorrect
Editor:
Normally, I make it a practice not to
respond to letters to the editor or make any
public comments other then in my column
for this newspaper and other media outlets.
However I found Frank Gadbois’ comments
so racist and incorrect that I felt the need to
speak.
The first African-American members of
Congress were both Republicans. The first
black member of Congress was Hiram
Rhodes Revels (R-Miss.), who served in the
Senate in the 41st Congress (1870). The
first black member of the House was Joseph
H. Rainey (R-S.C.). Between 1870 and 2004,
a total of 113 African-Americans have
served as members of Congress - 27 of those
were Republicans. Furthermore, President
O'Neal, the French and Korans for Gitmo
It is interesting that Rep.
Larry O’Neal has disavowed
any desire or intention to
become a candidate for lieu
tenant governor of Georgia
in the next election. He
blames political columnist
Bill Shipp - not one of his
friends or admirers - for
stirring up a rumor that he
wants the job and has the
support of Gov. Sonny
Perdue.
It is no secret that O’Neal
would likely receive
Perdue’s support if he
became a candidate. The
upcoming race to become
the Republican candidate
already is heating up. It is
better not to become the
third man in that race.
Will O’Neal seek higher
political office? Our sources
in Atlanta - not Bill Shipp -
say yes, when the time is
ripe. After Sonny’s second
term, for example.
• • •
Here’s a good quote:
French president Jacques
Chirac said, “The only thing
the British have ever given
France is mad cow disease.”
What an ungrateful wretch.
Wasn’t it the British, along
with the United States, that
rescued the French from the
Germans and gave them
back their sovereignty in
two world wars? Apparently
freedom is worth less than
The Muslim hate crime that wasn't
The grievance industry
went into overdrive last
month when burned Korans
were reportedly discovered
at a local mosque in south
west Virginia.
The Washington-based
Council on American-
Islamic Relations issued an
immediate press release on
June 16 calling for
“Americans of all faiths to
obtain and read the Quran
after burned copies of
Islam’s revealed text were
found” in a shopping bag at
the front door of the Islamic
Center of Blacksburg.
Repent, all ye infidels!
Incensed CAIR officials
contacted the FBI and pres
sured authorities to treat
the incident as possibly
“bias-related.” CAIR
MD/VA Director of Civil
Rights Shama Farooq lec
tured that “A redoubled
commitment to freedom of
thought and religious diver
sity is the best response to
the burning of any sacred
text” in order to “send the
message that bigots do not
represent our nation’s val
ues.”
Not content to let CAIR
get all the free publicity,
other victim-card hustlers
jumped aboard the burned
Koran bandwagon.
Laila Al-Qatami, a spokes
woman for the American-
Arab Anti-Discrimination
Committee in Washington,
lambasted police: “If pages
from the Bible were burned
and put in a bag outside a
church,” she huffed to the
Associated Press, “I think
the reaction of the police
would be that it would be a
hate crime.”
Actually, in this country,
when you dunk a crucifix in
urine, that’s “art,” and
when you hang a framed
copy of the Ten
Commandments inside a
courthouse, that’s a crime.
Al-Qatami invoked the
George W. Bush has appointed more
African-Americans to high-ranking cabinet
positions than any president in history.
Mr. Gadbois’ remark concerning Clarence
Thomas was incredibly racist and implied
that an African-American that chooses to
support the Republican philosophy has
“sold his soul.” Gadbois should be ashamed,
and owes Justice Thomas and all African-
American Republicans an apology. To make
the assumption that African-Americans who
do not choose to be members of the
Democrat Party should not have the choice
to follow the purer more uplifting philoso
phy of the Republican Party demonstrates
the same Democratic mentality that led to
slavery. Mr. Gadbois’ I sorry but not every
African-American wants to work on your
plantation.
As for President Lincoln, he was never
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
■
t B
Foy Evans
Columnist
foyevans 19@cox .net
mad cow disease to the arro
gant Chirac.
• • •
I resent the fact our gov
ernment is spending my tax
money to buy copies of the
Koran to give to terrorists at
Guantanamo. These are the
people who would kill each
of us without batting an eye
if given a chance. When they
capture an American they
save money by cutting their
heads off. Gimme a break!
• • •
Isn’t it absurd for the likes
of Sen. Ted Kennedy, Dick
Durbin and Hillary Clinton
to demand that President
Bush set a date for with
drawal of troops from Iraq.
Imagine how successful we
would have been in World
War II if President Franklin
<**
Michelle Malkin
Columnist
Creators Syndicate
Guantanamo Bay bogeyman
and blamed the burnt Koran
incident on insensitive,
ignorant Americans. The
case, she asserted, was
caused by “a lack of zero tol
erance for hate crimes and
‘a lack of information about
Arabs and Islam as a
whole.’” Al-Qatami also told
the Roanoke Times: “Let’s
face it, books don’t burn
themselves and end up out
side of a mosque. It’s a will
ful act.”
Muslims in Virginia also
expressed their knee-jerk
outrage: “It is a shame that
people are so ignorant,” said
Blacksburg mosque member
Idris Adjerid. Ahmed Sidky,
a Muslim graduate student
at nearby Virginia Tech, told
the Roanoke Times
that the case “was
certainly very sym
bolic.”
It certainly was a
symbol - a symbol of
the knee-jerk pen
chant among some
civil rights groups
and their enablers to
cry racism, claim dis
crimination, and
criticize U.S. law
enforcement author
ities for not doing
enough to stop “hate
crimes.”
It turns out, you
see, that the burnt
Koran was left at the
mentioned in my column.
Regarding your great emancipator
President Johnson, in 1964 at the
Democratic National Convention he sup
ported racist Democratic delegates from
Mississippi and denied the Mississippi
Freedom Democratic Party seats. Johnson
appeased Southern racists in 1956 when he
killed a civil rights bill in Congress. Johnson
also referred to Dr. King as “that n
preacher.” This shameful man was forced to
support Civil Rights because of the good
work of Robert Kennedy and the legacy of
President John Kennedy’s dream of expand
ing the Civil Rights movement, which began
under Eisenhower.
William John Hagan
Elko
D. Roosevelt had set a spe
cific date for the end of hos
tilities and withdrawal from
Europe. My friends and I,
who served during that war,
remember that when we
signed up it was “for the
duration and six months.”
Everyone knew that a suc
cessful end to the war was
the only deadline that was
being asked for or imposed.
• • •
I’ve heard talk that the
owner of the Blaze, a minor
league professional basket
ball team in Macon, has
been talking about moving
the franchise to Warner
Robins. The whole idea
seems out in left field. The
team has been drawing
between 100 and 200 cus
tomers per game.
Demographics tell me that if
they cannot draw a crowd in
Macon surely they will not
draw one in Warner Robins.
I doubt that Mayor Walker
is taking the idea seriously.
• • •
The No Child Left Behind
law requires that “persist
ently dangerous schools” be
identified. Two middle
schools - in Atlanta and
Augusta - have been given
that designation because of
incidents of first-degree
arson and aggravated child
molestation by students.
Schools should be havens for
mosque by ... a Muslim stu
dent.
According to the AP, a
Muslim Virginia Tech stu
dent took responsibility say
ing he dropped off the
burned Koran and other
singed materials at the
mosque, hoping “it could be
given a respectful disposal.”
Police Lt. Bruce Bradberry
reported that the student,
who was not named, appar
ently contacted police last
week, “saying he was going
to be traveling abroad and
didn’t know what to do with
the Koran, which had been
burned in a 2004 house fire.
The student said he placed
the book and other fire-dam
aged materials in a bag and
left the bag at the Islamic
Center with a note, which
apparently blew away.”
Whoops.
The grievance-mongers’
continued failure to act
responsibly and with due
skepticism when these cases
arise is expected. But the
mainstream media’s failure
to put its America-bashing
instincts in check is intoler
able. Instead of providing
readers with information
about many cases of so
called Muslim hate crimes
that have turned out to be
fraudulent since Sept. 11,
The Washington Post quot
ANP TME PROBLEM l<b-. ?
excuse me: wet? like T"
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AO I
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
young people seeking an
education. In my opinion,
troublemakers should be
sent to alternative schools
that are run like reform
schools.
• • •
Two weeks ago I went to a
restaurant and was seated
in the “no smoking” section.
Only a latticed partition was
between me and the smok
ing area, and I had the ben
efit of secondhand smoke
with my meal, much to my
disgust. A few days ago I
went to the same restaurant
and enjoyed clean air,
thanks to the Georgia legis
lature and Gov. Sonny
Perdue. Good things do hap
pen to those who wait.
• • •
I find it far from amusing
that so many people believe
that a judge’s stand on abor
tion should be the only
important factor in his or
her qualifications for the
United States Supreme
Court. I doubt that the
framers of the Constitution
had this issue in mind when
they wrote the guidelines
that should govern the con
duct of our government.
• • •
I have to admit that I was
more than pleased when
London was selected as the
site of the 2012 Olympic
games over Paris.
ed the usual suspects and
editorialized in its June 17
report that “The Koran
burning comes at a time of
particular sensitivity. The
U.S. military recently con
firmed five cases of U.S. per
sonnel mishandling the
Muslim holy book at the
prison at Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba, acknowledging that
soldiers and interrogators
kicked the Koran, got copies
wet, stood on a copy during
an interrogation and inad
vertently got urine on
another one.”
Over the Independence
Day weekend, Pulitzer
Prize-winning Washington
Post columnist Colbert King
added fuel to the fire, hys
terically listing this now
debunked Koran-burning
incident as evidence of ram
pant anti-Muslim bias in
America.
Will Colbert King and the
boys and girls crying wolf
calm down and acknowledge
the truth about the Muslim
hate crime that wasn’t? I
doubt it.
Michelle Malkin is author
of “Invasion: How America
Still Welcomes Terrorists,
Criminals, and Other
Foreign Menaces to Our
Shores” (Regnery). Malkin’s
e-mail address is
malkin@comcast. net.
Byron PD has some explaining to do
Editor:
On the story I heard about in Peach
County with the Byron policeman taking
the camera away from a citizen: That
sounds like the work of a dictatorship. I
would like the Peach County Sheriff s Office
to explain how that would be obstruction, or
maybe the Byron policeman could explain.
As by recent history, the Byron Police
Department seems to have their own idea of
what is the law and how it is handled, as in
the case of the Byron pizza store incident
that recently happened.
Alan Hickman
Warner Robins
See LETTERS, page 54