Newspaper Page Text
4A
♦ TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2005
jHmtu' Y
([% .jjmtnml
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
President,
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans Rex Gambill
Vice President Managing Editor
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
Revealing Reporters' Sources
A New York Times reporter has gone to jail because she
would not reveal the name of the source who provided
her with classified information which outed CLA under
cover agent Valerie Plame.
A reporter for Time magazine was threatened with
imprisonment for the same reason, but his company
agreed to reveal the name of his source.
Robert Novak broke the story in his nationally syndi
cated column, but for some reason he has not been tar
geted by the feds. It seems he is getting off free.
This incident raises many questions about reporters’
ability not to reveal their sources.
This privilege never has been challenged successfully in
the past.
Now the argument is heating up. Should reporters’
sources be shielded?
There is a school of thought that reporters should
never reveal their sources unless they want to. The
anonymity of sources makes it possible for reporters to
shine light on wrongdoing.
Fear of being identified would prevent many valuable
sources from coming forward, the argument goes.
Naturally, the media is staunchly behind this protec
tion.
There is a school of thought, resulting from the Plame
incident, that reporters should be forced to reveal their
sources when national security is involved.
“Deep Throat,” who was the source of much informa
tion that led to the resignation of President Richard
Nixon following the Watergate break-in, is given as an
example of the importance of secret sources being kept
secret.
Whether “Deep Throat” served a public service or
betrayed the Federal Bureau of Investigation will be
argued for years to come.
We have mixed feelings on this issue.
We recognize the importance of secret sources who can
provide reporters with leads and information that would
be unavailable otherwise. Secret sources have served our
profession and our country well in the past.
Sending reporter Judy Miller to prison for not reveal
ing her source for the Plame story can have serious impli
cations and can lead to more secrecy in government,
where there is too much secrecy already.
On the other hand, there is substance to the argument
that when national security is involved, reporters should
not hide the name of their sources.
One school of thought that argues against any protec
tion of reporters’ sources is that people who are accused
should have the right to face their accusers.
It isn’t an easy question to resolve.
We are afraid of secrecy in government more than we
are that national security will be breached when a
reporter receives information from a source that is not
identified.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Walker shares
letter about
friendly Voice'
Dear Mr. Walker,
I read in your May 6 arti
cle that you remember “The
Friendly Voice.” His name
was Chester Burnett. He
was a salesman for Sterchi
Furniture located at the cor
ner of Cherry and Broadway
in Macon.
A friend in Warner Robins
sends The Macon Telegraph
and The Houston Home
Journal to me about every
other month. I particularly
epjoy your columns, and
those of Mr. Foy Evans.
Katherine R. Donahue
Terrorists picking on the wrong folks
I have to believe that the
terrorists made a slight mis
take.
Oh, I can see how their
thinking process worked.
They bombed the Madrid
rail system just prior to
their national elections and
scared the Spaniards into
voting for a socialist govern
ment that promised to
remove any of their troops
from Iraq.
Figuring that killing civil
ians would scare Europeans
into submission where it
failed in the United States,
they decided to punish the
English for voting Tony
Blair back into office, and
maybe scare them into
abandoning the War on
Middletown, Ohio
Dear Mrs. Donahue:
Thank you for your nice
letter of July 2 concerning
my columns in The Houston
Home Journal, and in par
ticular, the May 6 article
where I mention “the friend
ly voice. ” I was glad to learn
the name of the friendly
voice. As a child while visit
ing my Walker grandparents
in Washington County,
Georgia, I often heard Mr.
Burnett as this was a
favorite program of my
grandparents.
Letters like yours make me
want to continue writing the
weekly column. Again,
thank you for your kind
words.
Larry Walker
Perry
w ' §m
jHP-' *
lb—
iff HK 1 * \W- : feSH
i ■? % \3t/ r j
-•’sJLi- p
}■ •
Timothy Graham
Staff Writer
tgraham@evansnewspapers.com
Terror.
Well I guess they hadn’t
attended history class when
it focused on the They
Local political year shaping up
Finally, we are beginning
to get a line on local politics
for this year.
Mayor Donald Walker and
Councilman Terry Horton
have announced that they
will seek re-election.
It was no surprise, but
still you never know what a
politician will do until he
does it.
Perry has a real contest
brewing for mayor, where
Jim Worrall has revealed
that he will seek another
term and councilman Billy
Jerles has thrown his hat in
the ring to challenge him.
City elections are only
four months away. It is time
for potential candidates to
declare their intentions.
In the past, July 4 has
been the traditional kickoff
date for political campaigns.
So far there has not been
much activity.
Some council posts still
must be filled this year in
both Warner Robins and
Perry. Jerles’ seat on the
Perry council will be up for
grabs without an incum
bent. I expect all incum
bents in Perry and Warner
Robins to come forward
soon and announce they will
seek re-election.
It seems that as popula-
Edible trivia: Hooray for the nerds!
First, some showbiz hon
cho thought teaming a fat
guy named Oliver Hardy
with a skinny guy named
Stan Laurel would be funny.
Hilarity ensued.
Then, somebody at
Maytag decided it would be
a grand idea to construct a
dryer to go with along with
its washer. The storied his
tory of laundry has never
been the same.
Later, the people at
Reese’s combined peanut
butter and chocolate - a fan
tastic fusion of yumminess.
In the 19705, the world’s
mime brain trust forged the
union of Shields & Yarnell in
an attempt to bring pan
tomime to the forefront of
popular entertainment.
Thank God Almighty, that
effort failed miserably.
Now, we have another
entry into the great
tandems of our time - trivia
and potato chips.
The other day, my wife
came home from the grocery
store heavy with giddy and
light on cash. She had a spe
cial treat for me among the
groceries, she revealed.
Scouring through the bags
for beer, I instead found
Pringles Prints - a new
product from the folks that
brought us chips in a can.
Pringles Prints combine
two of my greatest loves -
useless trivia and useful
potato chips. On each chip,
written in blue, are trivia
questions.
The answers are written
upside down below the ques
tion. Somehow, scientists
have figured out a way to
write on a potato chip with
out making it break into lit
tle pieces or taste like a per
manent marker (which,
from my own attempts, is
very, very difficult).
Hooray for the nerds!
I devoured the whole can
in mere minutes, along with
would have had more luck
bombing Petris in the hope it
would make the French stop
drinking wine.
The British have a long
history of displaying a bad
attitude over being attacked
by over-ambitious enemies.
The Spaniards sent an
armada after them and most
of it washed up on the
shores of Ireland in tooth
pick-size pieces.
Napoleon thought that he
could get away with taking
over Europe and freezing
out the Brits. He ended up
throwing rocks in the ocean
down in St. Helena.
The Germans took to
dropping bombs on London
from Zeppelins in World War
m
Foy Evans
Columnist
foye vans 19@cox.net
tion in our county increases
the number of people willing
to step up and seek political
offices diminishes.
I can recall when it almost
took an accountant to keep
up with the number of can
didates for mayor and coun
cil posts. That was when
Warner Robins’ population
was 10,000 or less.
This year, I believe, Mayor
Walker will run unopposed
and council members seek
ing re-election have a fair
chance of getting a free ride,
too.
There may be potential
candidates lurking out there
waiting to announce their
intentions, but they have
'
Len Robbins
Columnist
airpub@planttel.net
some valuable learnin’. And
while this is indeed a mar
velous breakthrough in
potato chip technology, once
the elation subsided, I found
room for some constructive
criticism.
For instance, where were
Pringles Prints when I was
in school?
Why were scientists wast
ing their time with spray-on
hair products and Viagra
when they could have been
ll |
;/ 11 I
Td like to visit the beach... if you have any that are inland!"
I. They ended up suing for
peace and getting a bad deal
out of it.
The Germans came back
and tried dropping bombs
on London from airplanes.
That did not come to a good
end for the Germans at all.
The Irish have been using
a terroristic bombing cam
paign against the British for
decades in an effort to get
them out of Northern
Ireland. Whose flag flies in
Londonderry? That’s right,
the Union Jack.
The Brits did not choose a
bulldog for a national sym
bol because they thought it
looked cute. The chose it
because it is a stubborn,
tenacious animal who will
been so quiet up to now that
it may be difficult to mount
a strong campaign against
an incumbent.
It would be more interest
ing to have spirited debates
on the issues among several
candidates for each office.
Some people feel cheated
when officeholders run
without opposition.
On the other hand, you
have to believe that when
incumbents do not attract
opposition the public
believes they are doing a
good job. Or the critics
would rather sit on the side
lines and criticize than to
become a participant in the
elective process.
It is hard to be very criti
cal of officeholders when
their performances do not
draw opposition.
Still, four months remain
before the elections. We
could be surprised to find
that there will be full fields
of candidates for all offices
when qualifying begins.
In politics you never know.
• • •
The Taliban captures for
eigners. They threaten to
kill them. They do. They cut
their heads off. They and
other terrorists have killed
every American they have
making snacks that can pro
mote education?
Georgia has reportedly
been 49th in the nation in
SAT scores for years. I can
assure you, with educational
facts written on potato
chips, our SAT scores would
have been much higher. Or,
at least, mine would.
Also, the trivia questions
on my chips were rather
easy - stuff like “What’s the
smallest state in the United
States?” Obviously, the
Pringles people are market
ing this product toward kids
or our president. I suggest
also including some tougher
trivia questions for adults -
ones like “What’s the name
of game show host Peter
Marshall’s son who played
major league baseball?”
Questions that you may
have to consult the Internet
before eating the answer.
This concoction is also
genius in that it gives potato
chips a huge edge over other
food items. Why eat a
lick you when you are nice
to it but bite a hunk out of
you if you aren’t.
The Argentinians thought
that all of that fight had
leaked out of the British
when they tried to take over
the Falkland Islands.
Maggie Thatcher showed
them that was a bad miscal
culation.
If they were willing to go
to the wall over a bunch of
useless islands in the South
Atlantic, what do you expect
their reaction will be to an
attack in their capital city?
The well-timed bombs in
the London subway system
might not have been the
work of the militant
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
captured.
In response we pamper
terrorist prisoners. Left
leaning members of the
press devote their time to
criticizing the way we treat
prisoners, even though it
has been shown that they
are pampered in ways no
one in our prison system
could expect. Prepare spe
cial food for them. Provide
prayer blankets. Provide
copies of the Koran. Provide
every comfort possible and
never retaliate when they
curse at, spit on and attack,
when possible, their guards.
Make sure they have
lawyers paid for by you and
me. Don’t dare offend one of
them.
Who needs enemies, when
we have powerful lawmak
ers and the left-leaning
press in our midst? Does
their hatred of President
Bush override patriotism?
We would not have a prob
lem with terrorist prisoners
if they had been killed on
the battlefield, which should
be a priority in the future.
Why not take the money
being spent on prayer blan
kets, copies of the Koran,
special diets and lawyers
and use it to buy bullets to
kill Islamic terrorists?
banana that will teach you
nothing when you can have
a delicious chip and learn
what Shakespeare play is
about the summer solstice?
How can an eggplant com
pete with a snack that
informs you what the capitol
of South Dakota is? It can’t,
and it would be awfully diffi
cult to print a trivia ques
tion on an eggplant.
It’s “junk food” no longer.
I call it “thunk food.”
And, by the way, Peter
Marshall’s son is Pete
LaCock, formerly a first
baseman with the Kansas
City Royals. Now you know
why he changed his last
name to Marshall.
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.
Muslims at all. It could have
been the work of those Irish
outlaws, but the source of
the terrorism is not really
the point.
9-11 did the terrorists no
good. All it did was focus the
national attention on taking
care of a threat we had let
fester for far too long.
7-7 will do the terrorists
no good either. It will only
re-focus the attention of the
British on helping us tackle
that terrorist threat wherev
er it may lurk.
We may have problems fig
uring out how the terroristic
mind works, but it is clear at
least they don’t know how
our minds work either.