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THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2006
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OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Don Moncrief Foy S. Evans
Managing Editor Editor Emeritus
Students were delivered some good news last
week when the federal government repealed
the decades-old single-holder rule regarding
student loans.
Before, students were held hostage. If their loans
were all from one lender, they were required to
consolidate with that lender.
Now, they can consolidate with any lender.
Also, the rule comes at an auspicious time. On
July 1, the rate for federal Stafford loans will rise
from 5.3 to 7.14 percent. But students/borrowers
who consoli
date their loans
before July 1 Lo an consolidation is a
can head off the .
increase. iong-iernt commitment.
Now with the Federal rules bar most
good comes the
bad ~or potm student loan borrowers
tiai to be bad ir fp om consolidating more
fui. than once, so if it takes
co“kXd »»“ so yef* p?y t
the single-holder Oil, YOU PB STUCK,
rule, borrow
ers were being
blanketed with marketing pitches from a variety
of lenders eager to consolidate their loans. Those
efforts will more than likely increase dramatically
now that the gloves are off, so to speak.
For that reason, we caution borrowers to be extra
vigilant. Loan consolidation is a long-term com
mitment. Federal rules bar most student loan bor
rowers from consolidating more than once, so if it
takes you 50 years to pay it off, you’re stuck.
Sort through the hype, compare the benefits, and
make a consolidation you can live with.
LETTER r -
As a former American history teacher who lived and
worked in England for two decades I am always surprised
by the lack of knowledge of the history of our country.
Or the histories of other nations, especially France and
Germany.
These nations chose not to join us in our war in Iraq
and some of us criticize them for not making the same
mistakes that we made.
They both have long histories and are sovereign
nations. Many of us cannot find Vietnam on a world map.
As a nation we are wonderful and unique in so many ways
but some of us can’t find Iraq on a map of the Middle East
or know who Dick Cheney is. Our U.S.Army has lowered
its recruiting standards and raised its age limits as they
are desperate for more recruits.
A GED or high school diploma is no longer required to
join our Army.
It’s harder to train these kinds of folks and their reten
tion is expensively shorter.
Yet our population is growing and most of us are over
weight and unfit.
I worry about our nation’s future as Mr. Bush contem
plates invading Iran if they don’t do what we want. North
Korea looms on the horizon dangerously.
Frank W. Gadbois, Warner Robins
WORTH REPEATINGjfIHHHHHI
“Sex and money always prowl in
the penumbra of power.”
Lewis D. Eigen, Associate Director, U. S. Job
Corps; Director, National Clearinghouse for Alcohol
and Drug Information; Pollster, Opinion Research
Corporation
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Tort reform not a wunderlaw
The public and legisla
tors bought into the
promise that so-called
tort reform would result
in lower liability insurance
premiums for doctors and,
ultimately, lower medical
costs for patients.
It sounded so very good.
Lawyers fought against it
and were condemned as
greedy so-and-so’s. Doctors
got behind tort reform
because they were paying
extremely high insurance
premiums and the insur
ance companies assured
them that they would be
beneficiaries.
Now we know the truth.
Tort reform became law.
Insurance companies were
protected against unreason
able claims. Doctors were
happy. So was the general
public, except those who
thought that liability limits
had been placed too low.
But... it hasn’t turned
out that way, at all. Medical
malpractice insurance pre
miums in Georgia have
gone up since tort reform
became law. Insurance
companies have not passed
along anything beneficial to
the medical profession.
- fK
Former mayor Campbell gets deserved jail time
Let me go straight
to the bottom line.
I don’t like for
mer Atlanta Mayor Bill
Campbell. I found him to
be a racist of the worst ilk,
arrogant (Trust me. I know
something about arrogance,
being the modest and much
beloved columnist that I
am), mean-spirited, intem
perate and a bully. And
those are his better sides.
In his federal corruption
trial, he was also revealed
to be a gambler who always
showed up with large wads
of unexplained cash, an
adulterer, and, according to
federal judge Richard Story,
guilty of taking bribes and
obstructing justice.
Campbell is finally going
to reap some of the bad
seeds he has sown. After
a federal corruption probe
that resulted in the con
viction of 10 former city
officials and contractors,
the ex-mayor and full-time
pit bull was found guilty
on three charges of federal
tax evasion and sentenced
to two-and-a-half years in
federal prison. As of this
writing, Campbell hasn’t
yet shown up at the pokey
because he is (a) appealing
a decision that he should
be thankful was less severe
than it could or should have
been, or (b) awaiting a visit
from the Crocodile Hunter
who is going to attempt to
defang him whichever
comes first.
American humorist Will
Rogers once said, “I never
Columnist lire
19P%
loyevansl9@cox.net
It seems to me that the
legislature should revisit
tort reform next January.
Since there have been no
benefits to anyone except
the insurance companies,
perhaps going back to the
old way of doing things
might be in order.
Several doctors with
whom I have talked are dis
appointed with the results
of tort reform so far and
feel like they have been
betrayed, since they put
their considerable political
influence behind the legis
lation.
* * *
The labor union that rep
resents police on Capitol
Hill in Washington are
‘The campaign issues? All I've heard
the candidates talk about are their opponents!"
Dick Yarbrough %
yarb24oo@bellsouth.net
- ■j&jjffiffi'/jjr if*.. |
met a man I didn’t like.” He
never met Bill Campbell.
Mayor Bill is to nice what
hobnail boots are to ballet
dancing. Besides, Campbell
would have taken Rogers’
comments the way he took
everything else, as a rac
ist insult. He would have
insisted that Rogers hire
a minority vendor most
likely a friend of the may
or’s to hold his lasso, and
if he didn’t, would accuse
him of being part of a mas
sive racial conspiracy.
Had I been the judge,
I would have given him
more time than he could
fathom for screwing up
the City of Atlanta before,
during and after the 1996
Centennial Olympic Games.
To Campbell, the Olympic
Games were nothing but
a big ol’ Freaknik, except
there were a few too
many white people run
ning around to suit his
taste. The city, thanks to
Campbell and his cronies,
blew a great opportunity to
present itself to a watching
world as a modem, sophis
unhappy with the outcome
of the charges against Rep.
Cynthia McKinney for
striking one of them. They
want members of Congress
to take up the issue.
Forget it. They appar
ently do not know that
McKinney is bullet proof.
She represents a constitu
ency in DeKalb County that
believes anything she does
is wonderful and that she
can do no wrong.
She was able to strike a
Capitol police officer and
get away with it. Could you
or I strike one of the offi
cers and get away with it?
We would wind up under
the jail and serve time.
Question: The next time
someone strikes a police
ticated city. The ill-fated
sidewalk vendors program,
which snarled the city’s
streets during the Games,
looked like a tacky Third
World flea market on ste
roids. The program lost
money for most everyone
involved except Campbell’s
buddy, Munson Steed, who
conceived the disaster.
For good measure, I
would toss a few playmates
in Campbell’s cell, includ
ing several members of the
Atlanta media who spent
more time trying to catch
Atlanta Olympics CEO
Billy Payne in a misstate
ment than in putting an
inept city government on
notice that it had better get
its blow-hard act together
before the world came to
visit. I would also add some
of the spineless business
boosters who saw what was
happening to the city but
were afraid to confront the
mayor, lest they be labeled
racists.
Playing the race card was
a Campbell specialty. When
the Feds first began looking
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
officer will they fall back
on the Cynthia McKinney
rule?
* * *
A source that I consider
very reliable told me that
a Sam’s Club store will go
up at the intersection of
Highway 96 and Lake Joy
Road in the same shopping
center as the new Lowe’s.
If so, a new traffic problem
will follow.
* * *
There are some people
who still are not happy that
the Fall Line Freeway will
go through Macon, if it ever
becomes reality, instead of
along Highway 96 through
Houston County.
We’re lucky that Larry
Walker was able to nego
tiate an agreement that
brought the Agricenter
to Perry in return for the
Fall Line Freeway going
through Macon.
Consider what a mess it
would be if the Fall Line
Freeway actually did come
through Houston County
along Highway 96, with all
the commercial develop
ment that is on the way.
into some of the mayor’s
shenanigans, he said he
was the subject of a “racial
inquisition” and compared
the FBI to the “KGB in
Communist Russia.” He
failed to mention that the
investigation began under
the Clinton Administration
and Attorney General Janet
Reno, and that the head of
Atlanta’s FBI office and the
U.S. Attorney for northern
Georgia were both black.
In 1999 the Southeastern
Legal Foundation, a con
servative public-interest
law firm, took the City
of Atlanta to court for its
joke of a minority vendors
program. Campbell said
he would fight the lawsuit
“to the death,” that the
Foundation was like the
Ku Klux Klan and urged
his supporters to picket
the homes of the members
of the Foundation until
they chickened out. Last
I looked, the SLF is still
around, the mayor is alive
and sulking, and his minor
ity vendors program is
deader than a doornail.
I could go on, but you get
the idea. Bill Campbell is
going to jail. Shed no tears
for him. It is long overdue.
Good riddance to a bad
apple.
You can reach
Dick Yarbrough at
yarb24oo@bellsouth.net,
P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta,
Georgia 31139, or Web
site: www.dickyarbrough.
com.