Newspaper Page Text
♦ SATURDAY, MARCH 25, 2006
4A
If Houatmt Idmru? if
vEl }t 4)mmtal
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Charlotte Perkins Foy S. Evans
News Editor Editor Emeritus
Keeping up appearances
The comic poet Ogden Nash once wrote:
I think that I shall never see
A billboard, lovely as a tree.
Indeed, unless the billboards fall,
I’ll never see a tree at all.
We support business growth, and the rights
of businesses to advertise, but we were glad to
learn that Mayor Donald Walker was able to
work out a way to reduce the number of bill
boards on the beautiful new stretch of Russell
Parkway, and that the developer involved was
satisfied with the compromise reached.
It is a real challenge for any community to
keep pace with growth, and more of a challenge
to do it in a way that is pleasing to the eye. This
is an ongoing balancing act for local elected offi
cials who must respect property rights and still
consider the good of the community as a whole,
and the benefits of having attractive entrances
to a city.
The city council has also approved amending
the city’s sign control ordinance for more flex
ibility in dealing with inappropriate signs on
property annexed into the city.
We hope that they remain vigilant on the mat
ter of keeping our Houston County landscape
- so recently characterized by orchards, farm
fields, trees and country homes - will not fall
victim to urban blight.
Let's hear it for Die ladies!
Sometimes a little thing leads to big things, or
a bright idea keeps on going like the Everready
Bunny.
Seventy years ago, in the depths of the Great
Depression, a group of young ladies from Perry
- mostly the wives of businessmen - decided to
form a little club with the goal of socializing, and
also bringing some culture to Perry. They called
their club “Sorosis,” which means “sisterhood,”
(Believe us, they heard the jokes about the liver
disease by a similar-sounding name!)
Ten years later, they formed the Delphian
Club, which is also still going strong. The trend
was underway, with one club forming another
every few years. Today we have the Sorelle
Club, the Akikta Club, the Beltista Club, the
Idaka Club, the Sogadera Club, the Balvaunuca
Club, the Tahseria Club - and the very young
est, still with babies and toddlers at home, the
Mahala Club.
The impressive thing is that all of these clubs
with the surprising names, which seem to be
unique to Perry, are both social and hardwork
ing. They have given many thousands of dol
lars to community service and charity over the
years.
This coming Saturday, you’ll see many of them
at the Beltista Club’s Home and Garden Show
at the Georgia National Fairgrounds, which is
one of Perry’s premiere events.
Let’s hope that these clubs, and others like
the Perry Business Women’s Club and the Pilot
Club, keep on forming new clubs and doing
good works for the community for another 70
years.
Who will save Abdul Rahman from death sentence?
Abdul Rahman is a man of
faith. “I believe in the Holy
Spirit. I believe in Christ.
And I am a Christian,” he
declared this week.
Unfortunately for Rahman,
he was originally born a
Muslim in Afghanistan -
and he has been forced to
defend his religious conver
sion in his home country’s
court, where he now faces
the death penalty for turning
to Jesus. Despite the defeat
of the totalitarian Taliban
and the existence of a U.S.-
backed “moderate” demo
cratic government, it is a
capital crime for Afghanis to
openly embrace any religion
other than Islam. Sharia
law, embedded in the Afghan
constitution, overrides its
human rights provisions.
Rahman’s family has
denounced him as mentally
ill. Afghan officials are thirst
ing for his blood. “We will cut
him into little pieces,” jail
employee Hosnia Wafayosofi
told the Chicago Tribune, as
she “made a cutting motion
■ 'tlH; ***>
Ik jjT
WRBL He —.... 1
Michelle Malkin
Columnist
Creators Syndicate
with her hands.”
The Tribune reported
that prosecutor Abdul Wasi
demanded Rahman’s repen
tance and called him a traitor:
“He is known as a microbe in
society, and he should be cut
off and removed from the
rest of Muslim society and
should be killed.” The coun
try’s attorney general says
Rahman should be hung.
The judge handling the case,
who has been photographed
School vouchers would be a disaster here
Efforts to get the govern
ment to issue school vouch
ers will not go away.
The idea is one of nation
al prominence and some
people prominent in gov
ernment and education sin
cerely believe that school
vouchers will solve any
problems—alleged or oth
erwise—with this country’s
educational system, which
is under attack.
Supposedly, if schools
vouchers are distributed to
parents who then can go
out and enroll their chil
dren in schools of choice we
will suddenly have a nation
of highly trained, highly
motivated students.
No child really would
be left behind if only we
had vouchers, according to
them.
First of all, not all children
are alike. Not all children
have the same intelligence.
Not all children have the
same level of motivation.
Not all children have par
ents who give children sup
port at home. Not all homes
even have parents who have
enough education to know
what an education is.
But, assuming that all
children can approach
\e> W fKIENP,! KTWmm ■ T O AM F &OT US AND U!£ fAMILV ARE 1
H oth6houStv»tml J CC-—ll mow part, njd we couldJ
Sr,Du” 6 _iA really lp>e their. A
K tow MANY PEOPLE W* I r ABOUT Y THAT WFINITELY^
An Open Letter
to supporters
ol the SPLOBT
We of the Citizens for a
Greater Houston County
wish to express our sincere
appreciation to you for your
support preparatory to the
SPLOST 2006 referendum.
It gave an impetus to our
team in focusing complete
ly on educating the public
concerning county needs.
And, it was instrumental
in the SPLOST receiving
wielding Rahman’s Bible as
evidence against him, threat
ens: “If he doesn’t regret his
conversion, the punishment
will be enforced on him. And
the punishment is death.”
This is a watershed moment
in the post-Sept. 11 world.
The Taliban are out of power.
And yet today, an innocent
man sits in the jail of a “mod
erate” Muslim nation pray
ing for his life because he
owned a Bible and refuses to
renounce his Christian faith.
Rahman, who converted
many years ago while work
ing for a Christian aid agency
in Germany, “is standing by
his words,” fellow jail inmate
Sayad Miakel told Canada’s
Globe and Mail.
Another cellmate,
Khalylullah Safi, reported:
“He keeps looking up to the
sky, to God.”
As of Tuesday after
noon, left-wing Amnesty
International had nothing to
say about the case. But nei
ther did President Bush, a
man of faith and a Christian
Foy Evans
Columnist
foyevansl9@cox.net
school equally prepared and
endowed by God with the
same talents, will vouchers
be the answer?
Advocates of vouchers
say that parents could take
their children and vouch
ers to the best schools and
enroll them, leaving behind
schools that do not measure
up.
Okay. Assume that some
schools in Houston County
are better than others.
Parents could take their
vouchers to schools that
are believed to be the best
and seek to enroll them.
Wait a minute. Every school
in Houston County already
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
a favorable vote of citizens
of Houston County and in
making an even Greater
Houston County possible.
Again, thank you for your
outstanding support. We
extend best wishes and espe
cially for exceeding all of
your expectations.
Sincerely,
Jack Steed, Chairman
Citizens for a Greater
Houston County
Fonda Jane
Editor:
brother. During his extensive
White House press confer
ence on the War on Terror
and the defense of freedom
overseas, Bush spent plen
ty of time describing what
life was like for Afghanis
before Operation Enduring
Freedom:
“There was no such thing
as religious freedom. There
was no such thing as being
able to express yourself in
the public square. There was
no such thing as press con
ferences like this. They were
totalitarian in their view.
And that would be - I’m
referring to the Taliban, of
course. And that’s how they
would like to run govern
ment. They rule by intimida
tion and fear, by death and
destruction. And the United
States of America must take
this threat seriously and
must not - must never forget
the natural rights
that formed our country.”
President Bush, who will
defend Abdul Rahman’s
natural rights from being
is overcrowded. How can
some schools that might be
considered superior accept
students with their vouch
ers when already they are
overcrowded and are hold
ing classes in temporary
buildings?
They couldn’t.
Let’s assume that it
would be possible for par
ents to take their vouchers
all over the county, enroll
ing their children in schools
of choice. Would the school
system still be expected to
bus the students to school?
How could they?
Parents would be unhap
py if they had vouchers and
their children could not get
into their school of choice.
So they would blame the
school board. You can be
sure there would be law
suits and claims of discrimi
nation.
In my opinion, in Houston
County alone school vouch
ers would be a disaster.
From what I read, school
systems all over the coun
try are overcrowded and in
need of more classrooms.
Advocates of school vouch
ers are not looking at the
logistics involved nor are
they looking at the chaos
I am really disappointed
in our state senators who
voted down a resolution
honoring actress Jane Fonda
during National Women’s
Month! After all that she
has done for our citizens
and the money she has
donated to our colleges,etc.
Especially her work to pre
vent teen pregnancy.
Jane Fonda did not
always practice discretion
when she was young and
when she went to North
Vietnam for which she
has publicly apologized for
countless times. Yet she has
usurped and terminated by
Afghanistan’s Islamic execu
tioners?
Tony Perkins at the Family
Research Council raises the
unpleasant question Bush
evaded and no one in the
White House press corps
bothered to ask: “How can
we congratulate ourselves for
liberating Afghanistan from
the rule of jihadists only to
be ruled by Islamists who kill
Christians?
President Bush should
immediately send Vice
President Cheney or
Secretary Rice to Kabul to
read [Afghan President]
Hamid Karzai’s government
the riot act. Americans will
not give their blood and trea
sure to prop up new Islamic
fundamentalist regimes.
Democracy is more than
purple thumbs.
Embarrassingly, the gov
ernments of Italy and
Germany have already
stepped forward to make
direct appeals to Karzai to
save Rahman’s fife. Hamid
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
that would result from all
parents receiving school
vouchers for their children.
They are theorists out of
touch with reality.
In my opinion, if any
school is underperforming,
then school boards should
take a look at them and bring
them up to standard. That
sounds more like a solution
to any inequity than to tell
parents that they can leave
certain schools for another
with a voucher.
Any improvement with
public school education in
America will come through
these, if not more, actions:
• Tougher curriculum.
• Homes where students
are encouraged to excel.
• Parental support of dis
cipline in schools.
• Parents’ willingness to
accept the limitations of.
their children and support
holding students back when
they fail a grade.
• A weeding out of less
competent teachers in
school systems where there
are any.
I’m sure our educators
can improve on my list. But
that is a start and certainly
more realistic and less cost
ly than school vouchers.
been a public scapegoat so
many times. Our frustrated
Vietnam veterans need to
get a life and pick on some
one their own size! There
has never been any proof/
evidence that her visits to
North Vietnam hurt a sin
gle U.S. soldier or POW or
that she caused the war to
last longer. Richard Nixon
and LBJ are the real cul
prits in all this. It’s time to
move on, folks!
Frank Gadbois
Warner Robins
Karzai has ducked the issue
so far. Our feckless State
Department is “monitoring”
the situation.
If we sit on the sidelines
and watch this man “cut into
little pieces” for his love of
Christ, we do not deserve the
legacy of liberty our Founding
Fathers left us. How about
offering Rahman asylum in
the United States?
Perhaps Yale University,
proud sponsor of for
mer Taliban official Sayed
Rahmatullah Hashemi, can
offer Rahman a scholarship.
Where’s the Catholic
Church, so quick to offer
sanctuary to every last ille
gal alien streaming across
the borders?
And how about Hollywood,
so quick to take up the cause
of every last Death Row
inmate?
Hello, anyone, hello?
Michelle Malkin is author
of the new book “Unhinged:
Exposing Liberals Gone
Wild. ” Her e-mail address is
malkin@comcast.net.