Newspaper Page Text
4A
¢ SATURDAY, MAY 20, 2006
(EH I ?{l Houston Houme [
Daniel F. Evans
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Don Moncrief Foy S. Evans
Managing Editor Editor Emeritus
Drivers Licenses In Perry
ometimes good news is hard to
Sfind. One big good news item this
week was announcement that the
state Department of Driver Services soon
will reopen its Perry branch to issue
drivers licenses.
In an economy move several years
ago the Perry drivers license office was
closed and Houston Countians had only
the Warner Robins office on Carl Vinson
Parkway for this important service.
Naturally, lines often are long and so
are waiting times.
With Houston County growing as fast
as 1t Is, obviously there is need for the
second office in Perry.
One of Gov. Perdue’s goals has been to
make this service as accessible as pos
sible and make the time spent in lines as
short as possible. This became a problem
of such proportions a few years ago in
suburban Atlanta that reorganization of
the department was the answer.
The Perry office will issue licenses and
give driving tests for all except commer
cial driving.
According to Waymond Henry, direc
tor of facilities management, services in
Perry will include motorcycle and regu
lar drivers licenses, first time drivers
licenses, renewals and out of state trans
fers, regular road tests for motorcycles
and vehicles. The office also will give
commercial drivers license written tests,
but not road tests.
The Perry office is scheduled to open by
July of this year.
It is the kind of good news we like to
hear.
What Will Centerville Do?
ill Centerville approve Sunday
s;s; alcohol sales?
Will Centerville abolish the
100 percent exemption from city taxes
for residents over the age of 65, or will
they reduce the amount of the exemp
tion, or will they leave this alone?
Centerville’s new mayor - Bubba
Edwards and city council have been
tackling difficult problems and making
difficult decisions since they took office.
These two questions are bringing citi
zens out to council meetings to express
their opinions.
Clearly, Centerville has been missing
a lot of revenue with its opposition to
Sunday alcohol sales. Restaurants that
might locate within the Centerville city
limits are looking at the handicap they
will face from competition in Warner
Robins, where sale of alcohol on Sunday
is permitted.
This really is a late time for Centerville
to take up this problem, which sends
potential restaurants across the street.
Will city council vote to allow Sunday
alcohol sales? Despite some opposition,
it is the wise thing to do.
As for the tax exemption, many of the
most expensive homes in Centerville
are owned by citizens over 65. Mayor
Edwards has pointed out that the city
needs revenue from these homes.
It has been pointed out that some of
the owners of these homes moved to
Centerville because of the tax exemp
tion.
This is something city officials will
have to hatch out. A compromise seems
to be in the offing.
Everyene wants someone else to sacrifice
Has it ever occurred to you
that almost everyone wants
someone else to make sacri
fices and not themselves?
% % %
Removing the state gaso
line tax would not be a good
idea. It would save each of
us a couple of dollars per
fill up, but it would deprive
the Georgia Department of
Transportation of millions
of dollars in revenue each
year.
Were you aware that all
Georgia’s gasoline tax money
is earmarked for the mainte
nance and construction of
roads by the DOT? Can’t
be spent anywhere else. I'm
not willing to accept poor
ly maintained highways in
return for a few dollars in
savings.
* * *
The war in Iraq continues.
Whether it is going well is
a matter of opinion. Iran is
threatening to make nuclear
weapons and wipe Israel off
the face of the earth. North
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9/11, the Pentagon, and our horders
Sitting on my home office
desk is one of my most trea
sured possessions. It’s a
silver medallion inscribed
“United in Memory:
September 11, 2001,” with a
proud American eagle on one
side. On the other side, the
memento depicts workers
at the Pentagon saluting as
they unfurl a large U.S. flag
from the Pentagon rooftop.
The medal was given to
me by Debra Burlingame,
sister of Charles F. “Chic”
Burlingame 111, the pilot of
American Airlines Flight 77.
Jihadi hijackers who exploit
ed our joke of an immigra
tion system crashed the
plane into the Pentagon on
Sept. 11, while screaming
“Allahu Akbar!” I look at the
keepsake every day before 1
write to be reminded of this
nation’s strength, courage
and perseverance.
On Tuesday, the Pentagon
released video images of
American Airlines Flight 77
crashing into the military
headquari’:srs building. The
Defense Department released
the images, recorded by a
Pentagon security camera,
in response to a Freedom
of Information Act request
by Washington, D.C.-based
Judicial Watch.
I know the White House
didn’t intend it, but the
Pentagon 9/11 video release
underscores why President
Bush’s push for a massive
“guest worker”/enforcement
later approach to border
Foy Evans
Columnist
foyevansl9@cox.net
Korea is saber rattling.
Federal spending is out of
control. And what has hard
core Republicans’ blood boil
ing? Gay marriage!
* * *
The public school system
with the poorest performance
in Georgia spends more
money per pupil (approxi
mately $12,000) each year
and pays its school superin
tendent much more (approx
imately $450,000) by far per
yegr than any other super
intendent in the state. More
than twice what Houston
Michelle Malkin
Columnist
malkin@comcast.net
security is such a betrayal
of the memory of those who
died in the attacks.
When Sept. 11 hijackers
Hani Hanjour and Khalid
Almihdhar needed help get
ting fraudulent government
issued photo IDs before
embarking on their suicide
mission, they hopped into a
van and headed to the park
ing lot of a 7-Eleven store
in Falls Church, Va. That’s
where scores of illegal alien
day laborers ply bogus iden
tity documents to other ille
gal aliens from around the
world.
As I've noted many times,
I visited this 7-Eleven while
reporting on the national
security-immigration nexus.
It is a stone’s throw from the
Pentagon, where Hanjour
and Almihdhar deliberate
ly drove Flight 77 into the
ground. The parking lot is
still to this day often filled
with “undocumented” day
laborers whom President
Bush never fails to extol for
doing the jobs Americans
£ S pel
T .
RN %
RPN A
T T ‘
County pays its superinten
dent for running one of the
state’s elite school systems.
It’s the Atlanta school sys
tem, of course.
* * *
When you complain about
gasoline costing almost $3
per gallon, consider what
you pay for these items:
* Most name brand bottled
water: S2O per gallon.
* Over-the-counter cough
medicine: $175 per gallon.
* A latte at your favorite
coffee shop: $32 per gallon.
Just some information to
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won’t do (or “aren’t doing,”
as he now hedges). Local cops
I have interviewed suspect
that most of these men are
here illegally and that they
continue to facilitate trade
in fake identification docu
ments. But nobody arrests
them. We are, as the Million
Illegal Alien Marches have
demonstrated, a de facto
sanctuary nation.
One of the illegal aliens
at that 7-Eleven was Luis
Alonso Martinez-Flores, a 28-
year-old Salvadoran who had
been in the United States
illegally since 1994. He got
in the van and directed the
jihadis to a DMV Express
office nearby; they obtained
photo IDs using bogus resi
dential info supplied by
Martinez-Flores. That info
was also used on ID forms
for two other hijackers.
The illegal alien earned
SIOO. One hundred and
eighty-four people paid with
their lives.
Three other hijackers
showed up at a different
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
remind us to keep things in
perspective.
* * *
The biggest contribution
each of us can make dur
ing the gasoline crisis if we
are not going to start driv
ing small, high mileage cars,
is to drive less miles. I've
found that by cutting out
unnecessary trips around
town I am using only about
half as much gasoline as I
did not long ago. Despite the
spike in gasoline prices this
year I actually am spending
less for the fuel this year
than last.
* % *
Isn’t it absurd for alcohol
ics and drug addicts to claim
it is a disease? Sounds like a
cop out to me. Same for foo
daholics to claim their prob
lem is a disease. I know why
I am fat. It is not a disease.
It is my inability to keep my
right hand away from my
mouth.
Arlington DMV the same
day Hanjour and Almihdhar
stopped by the 7-11 illegal
alien magnet. As with many
DMVs across the country,
illegal aliens congregated out
in the open. Victor M. Lopez-
Flores, who had been previ
ously deported after a felo
ny conviction but returned
illegally, was one of them.
He and another illegal immi
grant led the hijackers to
an open-borders attorney’s
office, where they helped the
terrorists fraudulently obtain
Virginia ID cards.
While some states have
tightened ID requirements,
many others still allow ille
gal aliens to obtain driver’s
licenses. The Bush Treasury
Department approves the
use of foreign consular ID
cards exclusively for illegal
aliens from Mexico. Peru, the
Philippines, and Guatemala
are clamoring for the United
States to recognize their
phony ID as well. Nearly
five years later, illegal alien
day laborers like the ones
who unwittingly assisted the
9/11 hijackers have virtually
no fear of being arrested.
Instead, they await their new
“temporary” guest worker
cards and eventual American
citizenship in a land that
has lost its memory. And its
mind.
Michelle Malkin is author
of the new book “Unhinged:
Exposing Liberals Gone
Wild.” Her e-mail address is
malkin@comcast.net.