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♦ THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 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
We Dodged The Bullet
Hurricane Katrina dealt death and destruction,
some of it only a few miles west of Houston County,
but we fortunately escaped its fury.
Storms, imbedded with tornados, seemed to keep
their fury west of Interstate 75.
There were high winds, but not the kind that cost
people their lives and destroy homes and buildings.
We missed the bullet this time. We were lucky.
Tornado warnings issued by the weather bureau
brought back memories of the devastating tornado,
which struck Warner Robins in April 1953.
This tornado surprised everyone because we did not
benefit from the kind of warnings we are accustomed
to today.
It swept into the city, left death and destruction,
continued over Robins Air Force Base ... all within a
matter of a few minutes.
Most of the residents of Warner Robins and Houston
County today did not live here or were not born in
1953. But older residents, who were witnesses to the
effects of that tornado, shared a common fear that
another one might strike.
The air has cleared. Katrina is a hurricane of the
past. While victims of the hurricane - from the vic
tims on the Gulf Coast to victims in Fort Valley - clean
up and share terrible memories we can go ahead with
our lives thankful that we were spared.
UTTER TO THE EDITOR
They have
their own hypocrite
Editor:
Pat Robertson’s sugges
tion that President Hugo
Chavez of Venezuela should
be assassinated has elicited
comments from Democrats
eager to condemn a minister
identified with Republicans.
They refer to Robertson as a
huckster and point out what
a hypocrite he is.
Let me suggest another
“reverend” for them to con
sider. This “reverend” was
brought in as a special coun
selor for Bill Clinton to help
him resist the temptation of
having inappropriate rela
tionships with subordinates.
What was this “reverend”
doing while he was counsel
ing the president? He was
busy impregnating a subor
dinate. “Thou shalt not
commit adultery” obviously
didn’t apply to him.
This “reverend” referred
to New York as
“Hymietown.” Is this treat
ing your neighbor as you
would be treated?
This “reverend” has spent
his life being a race hustler.
Every time he is shaking
down a company for some
alleged grievance, he always
manages to profit personal
ly. Is he proving that you
can serve both God and
Mammon?
This “reverend” at one
Random thoughts on random subjects
There he goes again. Not
content to trash the current
president and undermine
the nation’s foreign policy,
now President Peanut has
sandbagged his native state
with his letter to the Base
Realignment and Closure
Commission (BRAC), which
is credited with saving the
submarine base at Groton,
Conn. His actions cost the
Kings Bay facility in
Camden County more than
3,000 jobs, six nuclear
attack submarines and the
Naval Submarine School
that many local residents
and officials had expected to
come there. “What was he
thinking?” Gov. Perdue
wondered. That’s easy. He
was thinking he is the
world’s authority on any
thing and everything. As for
me, I’m thinking he ought to
sail his submarine to
Connecticut and stay there.
time was opposed to abor
tion. However, political real
ities in the Democratic
Party showed him the error
of his ways. For him, “Thou
shalt now kill” suddenly did
not apply to the unborn.
There are two words that
I have never heard pass the
lips of this “reverend” -
Jesus Christ. Who is this
“reverend” so deserving of
condemnation that gets a
continual pass from the left?
The rhyming reverend him
self, Jesse Jackson.
When has “Reverend”
Jesse Jackson ever been
criticized by a Democrat?
Has the press ever bothered
to question his morals or
integrity? Do they ever
throw his continual viola
tion of Christian principles
in his face? Perhaps
Democrats fail to condemn
Jesse Jackson because they
suffer from the soft bigotry
of low expectations?
Robertson a hypocrite?
Oh, there’s no shortage of
hypocrisy with this issue. If
only the Democrats could
open their eyes to see it.
They should heed the coun
sel of Jesus. Thou hypocrite,
first cast out the beam from
thine own eye; and then
shalt thou see clearly to cast
out the mote from thy
brother’s eye.
Cary S. Baxter
Perry
«
Dick Yarbrough
Columnist
yarb24oo@bellsouth.net
The state of Georgia has
lost one of its greatest citi
zens with the death of J.
Curtis Lewis of Savannah. I
suspect that many of you
have never heard of him or
his good deeds, which is the
way he wanted it. The for
mer mayor of Savannah and
a broadcast industry titan
Awestruck by power of hurricanes
I have survived several
hurricanes, but nothing like
Katrina, which devastated
the Gulf Coast from New
Orleans to Mobile.
I had moved to Fort
Lauderdale in August of
1941 when I was introduced
to hurricanes. There was no
way for me to have any idea
what a hurricane was like.
Movie theaters had
Movietone News, which we
could see once a week if we
could afford the price of a
ticket, and pictures were of
limited quality. The sheer
power of a hurricane was
not captured by those black
and-white, grainy pictures.
Today we are able to fol
low the path of a hurricane
from the time it begins as a
tropical depression in the
Atlantic Ocean just off the
coast of Africa. We are kept
up to date on its intensity.
Brave pilots fly into hurri
canes, even into the eye, to
record information on them.
We are fully informed.
Yet look what happened
early this week.
Fort Lauderdale was pret
ty much wiped out in the
late 1930 s by a hurricane.
Disaster
It is funny how Mother
Nature likes to wake up and
kick us in the teeth every so
often just to keep us on our
toes.
But then there are the
times that she takes a little
extra effort to make sure
that we learn our lessons
well.
Back in January an earth
quake in the Indian Ocean
led to tsunamis that killed
thousands and showed us
how helpless we are in the
face of nature. We saw the
devastation and the looting
and we nodded our heads
and thought to ourselves:
Well, what do you expect.
They aren’t nearly as civi
lized as we are. Too bad
they can’t control them
selves. That would never
happen here.
Guess what? We were
wrong.
In the wake of Hurricane
Katrina it has not taken
long for us to learn just how
thin that veneer of civiliza
tion is that we are so proud
of. Almost the first video
out of the disaster area is
film of people looting every
thing the can get their
hands on. It doesn’t matter
that it might be food they
can’t keep cold because
there is no electricity, it is
just like it is a game. Can’t
watch Ty so let’s go out
and loot.
We saw a small example
of this here in Middle
Georgia when the tornado
in Fort Valley destroyed a
branch office of Robins
Federal Credit Union. The
authorities felt it necessary
to keep a 24/7 guard on the
building because they know
that if they didn’t, looters
did more good for more peo
ple with as little fanfare as
anyone I have ever known.
Mr. Lewis was a class act. He
will be missed. ...
If somebody doesn’t start
explaining to us pretty soon
why gas prices are at an all
time high and show no signs
of abating, we are going to
clean house in Washington.
The Bush administration
talks about future energy
policies, but says nothing
about conserving today’s
resources. In the meantime,
Georgia’s highways are like
a racetrack. Why doesn’t the
governor put every available
state patrol officer on
Georgia’s highways and nail
the idiots driving at the
speed of sound? These peo
ple are not only dangerous,
they are un-American, wast
ing fuel at a time we can
least afford it. They need to
be punished. ...
■ft
Foy Evans
Columnist
foye vans 19@cox.net
This one was treacherous. It
came in off the Atlantic
Ocean. After it passed
through it turned around
and came back. People living
in the Fort Lauderdale area
were caught unawares.
In Fort Lauderdale I lived
in a house that was built
after that hurricane to
replace a frame house that
was destroyed. It was made
of concrete blocks with steel
rods through the blocks. It
could withstand almost any
hurricane.
We were far enough away
from the ocean that huge
brings out the worst in us
Timothy Graham
Staff Writer
tgraham@evansnewspapers.com
would be on the scene like
"One thing you can count on - we sons of the South
always remember where we come from!"
Politicians never cease to
amaze me. Republicans in
the General Assembly found
out during the last session
that secrecy in government
is a no-no, no matter how it
gets justified. Now we learn
that the Forsyth County
school board purchased 25
acres of land for $3.25 mil
lion in a secret session, and
Gwinnett County paid $1.9
million for a tract that had
sold for one-third that price
less than three years earlier,
and did it behind closed
doors. If public officials
want to spend their own
money in secret that is their
privilege, but not taxpayer
money. Read my lips:
Taxpayers have the right to
say how their hard-earned
dollars are being spent
before it is spent. Why is
that so hard for politicians
to understand? ...
I get lots of mail. Some of
surges of water, similar to
those that did so much dam
age on the Gulf Coast, were
not of concern.
I was awestruck by the
violence of the wind and the
sharpness of raindrops
when they hit me in the
face. It was a rude welcome
to the state of Florida, com
ing only a few weeks after I
had moved there to live.
During the years I served
in the United States Navy in
World War 11, I lived
through several hurricanes.
Most of them were Category
3 or less. They did a lot of
damage to South Florida
because most of the homes,
except in rebuilt Fort
Lauderdale, were not strong
enough to avoid serious
damage from the fury of the
storms.
My most memorable hur
ricane came about the time
World War II ended. I had
been sent to Miami to wait
to be placed on inactive duty.
The hurricane that struck in
late 1945 was severe. It
destroyed a blimp hangar
and leveled a large area
south of the city.
Following the war new
ants on sugar.
Thousands of years of
evolution have apparently
done nothing to filter the
savage out of us. Just
scratch the surface and you
will find the beast under
neath. It doesn’t matter
that the store owners are
probably neighbors, just get
a hint that the civil author
ities are too busy elsewhere
and we are ready to throw
those bricks through the
windows and take every
thing we can carry.
Back in the good old days
the police would give orders
it is complimentary and
some is so hot I have to han
dle it with an oven mitt, but
I never read unsigned let
ters. They go right into the
trash. If you don’t care
enough to sign your name, I
don’t care enough to consid
er what you have to say.
Please make a note of that
and save us both a lot of
time and trouble. ...
Color me wrong. In
extolling the virtues of the
great state of Georgia, I
wrote that Valdosta High
School has won more foot
ball games that any other
high school in the nation,
but that I doubted anyone in
New Mexico would care. Not
so. Boyd Waters cares. The
Socorro, N.M., resident
wrote and told me so. His
grandfather is a Valdosta
native, and Boyd knows
more than a little about
Valdosta football. ...
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
building codes, strict enough
for buildings and homes to
withstand normal hurri
canes, were adopted.
These requirements were
eroded as the years went by.
Anyone familiar with
today’s Florida is aware that
the state is covered with
mobile homes and flimsy
frame houses that will not
withstand very strong
winds.
Pictures we have seen of
hurricane-ravaged areas all
across Florida are testimony
to the fact that building
codes just don’t exist any
more, or they are very
lenient.
What happened to Biloxi
and other towns along the
Gulf Coast this week was
something even the most
strict building codes could
not prevent. When walls of
water roll in from the ocean
they sweep buildings and
objects out of the way. It is a
force that cannot be denied.
Television pictures of hur
ricanes give an idea of what
hurricanes are like and what
they can do. Anything less
than living through one fails
to convey how it really is.
to shoot looters on sight,
but that kind of thing isn’t
politically correct enough
these days. So the looters
run free. They will probably
feel ashamed when every
thing is cleaned up and try
to forget what they did, but
the fact is that when the
opportunity came, they
took advantage.
And we will sit here in
Houston County and nod
our heads and think to our
selves that it would never
happen here.
We can only pray that we
never get put to that test.
Anybody heard from the
flaggers recently? I see a few
“Punt Perdue” signs around
the state, but things have
been ominously quiet.
Maybe the flaggers are busy
printing “Tackle Taylor”
and “Chop Block Cox” signs
to ensure that they have all
their gubernatorial candi
date bases covered. ...
Finally, on my mission trip
to Honduras, a young
Honduran took one look at
me as I mixed concrete in
the boiling sun and with awe
in his voice said, “anciano.”
I assumed it meant “Look at
the bulging biceps on that
guy!” Later, I looked it up. It
means “He’s really old.”
Rats.
You can reach Dick
Yarbrough at
yarb24oo@bellsouth.net,
PO. Box 725373, Atlanta,
GA 31139, or Web site:
www.dickyarbrough.com.