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♦ SATURDAY, JUNE 24, 2006
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OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Don Moncrief
Managing Editor
Drought Is Getting Serious
The drought is getting serious. For
several years the state of Georgia
has required that watering for
homes be restricted to even/odd days.
Because there has been plenty of water
most of the time the state mandate has
been ignored.
This summer the situation is becoming
serious, as Georgia experiences a real
drought.
Local governments have been called to
enforce the even/odd watering mandate
and, from what we see, most residents in
Houston County are abiding by it.
For those who might not understand,
residents in homes with even street
numbers are permitted to water their
yards on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Saturdays. Odd numbered homes can
water lawns on Sundays, Tuesdays and
Thursdays. There should be no watering
on Fridays.
This week the state took note of the
drought, which is affecting the entire
state, and has ordered that water should
not be used to water lawns and flowers
between 4 and 10 p.m. every day.
Water levels in some lakes are falling
rapidly. Lake Lanier, because of a foul
up by the Army Corps of Engineers is
now 5 feet below normal level. It is creat
ing a crisis, which is pitting the state of
Georgia against Florida for use of water
from this lake.
The present drought is having an effect
on city and county water systems in
Houston County, too. A strain is being
E laced on watering systems operated
y the local governments, but they are
enjoying a windfall in income.
Last summer was unusually wet and
income from the water departments of
Houston County and the three cities was
well below normal.
This year should prove to be a bonanza
for the water departments as homeown
ers use water freely on authorized water
ing days in order to keep their lawns and
flowers alive.
We get our water from deep wells, tap
ping into an aquifer that never has let
us down.
There still are some homeowners who
defy the use of water in compliance with
the state mandate and we hope they will
step up and comply. Only through coop
eration in times such as these can we
be assured that there will not be a real
crisis in Houston County.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Tell it like it is
please
I am appalled at
Charlotte Perkins’ report
ing and your coverage of
the Cathy Cox event last
Saturday. I was there and
I didn’t see the approxi
mately 150 people she
claimed were there. There
were in fact, a total of
40 vehicles there, 12 with
Houston County tags, and
three of those were press,
Charlotte, Matt Barnwell,
and Tracy McCollister.
They didn’t even take up all
of the paved parking spac
es in front of the Miller-
Murphy-Howard Building.
Hardly the big Houston
County “Sonny Country”
attack that you dedicated
most of the front page to
WORTH REPEATING
“You need to earn your spurs through
performance, not interviews.’’
President George W. Bush
Statement to his father’s campaign operative who
had given interview to the press about his campaign
management skills and style, 1988
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
Tuesday. If you subtract
the three press cars and
five volunteer and staffers’
vehicles that leaves you
with a pretty big people
to-vehicle ratio don’t you
think? Even if you count
ed them all that means
each car there had to bring
about four people each.
I have been reading the
“Home Journal” for many
years. I enjoy your home
town touch and friendly
attitude. It disappoints
me to lose that. Charlotte
should tell the story the
way it was instead of the
way she wished it was. I
am shocked and you should
be ashamed of this mis
leading article. The people
deserve the truth.
Debbie Parrish,
Warner Robins
The poor state of education in America
A new study, released ear
lier this week, gives us an
indication of the poor state
of education in this country.
That may be the wrong
way to put it. The study
reveals how poorly many
students in this country are
performing, and the problem
may not be the educational
system, at all.
It boils down to culture.
Where are students failing
to graduate from high school
in the largest numbers? Or
to put it another way, where
are the smallest percentage
of students graduating from
high school?
The biggest failures are in
major cities, though smaller
cities reflect the same prob
lem.
Look at these figures,
which reflect the number
of students in public school
systems who graduate from
high school in some major
cities:
• Detroit - 21.7 percent.
• Baltimore - 38.5 per
cent.
• Baltimore - 38.5 per
cent.
• New York City - 38.9
percent.
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Every business is
By RANDY HICKS
President of Georgia
Family Council
“Sure, I’d like for you and
your family to do well, but
my job is to run a business
and make a profit. Your fam
ily is of little concern to me.
It’s about the bottom line; if
my business fails, you won’t
have a job.”
Have you or someone you
know heard a statement like
that from an employer? If
you’re an employer, have
you said something like that
to an employee? If so, please
keep reading; we have some
misconceptions to clear up.
In reality, healthy families
are vital to business success
because businesses do better
when families are thriving.
Many studies verify things
we should know intuitively
about family-friendly busi
ness practices and the busi
ness benefits they bring.
Essentially, having corporate
policies that demonstrate
sensitivity to the concerns
and needs of employees
and their families is smart
because it’s both the prof
itable thing to do and the
right thing to do.
Yes, showing a practical
concern for the family lives
of employees is profitable.
In a survey of workers
conducted a few years ago
by the Northwestern Mutual
Financial Network, 54 per
cent of employees reported
that they were “burned out”
in companies that did not
have supportive work-family
programs. Only 27 percent
of employees of companies
that did have supportive
Foy Evans
Columnist
foyevansl9@cox.net
These all are cities with
large inner city populations,
where the culture scorns
education. It also is a pretty
good barometer of the future
of these cities, where hun
dreds of thousands of young
people are uneducated and
must look for ways to make
money without working, i.e.,
crime or welfare.
The overall graduation
rate in this country is a frac
tion less than 70 percent,
but far below that level in
large cities. The overall
graduation rate for the state
of Georgia is a little over 50
percent. Houston County’s
graduation rate is 79 per
cent.
policies reported feeling
“burned out.” Similarly, 28
percent of workers who had
flexible scheduling options
reported burnout, compared
to 39 percent of employees
who were not allowed flex
ibility in work hours.
Why is that significant?
Burnout reduces one’s
enthusiasm for the job
which in turn reduces pro
ductivity. Employees feeling
anxious and helpless about
important family issues and
events are more likely to be
distracted and fatigued. As
an example, an IBM survey
of high-performing employ
ees revealed that the second
most important factor to
those employees remaining
with. the company was its
flexibility and work-family
programs.
A better example may
come from an evaluation
of Johnson & Johnson’s
“Balancing Work and Family
Program” conducted a few
years ago. The evaluation
showed that over the first
two years of the program
employees reported decreas
ing levels of feeling their job
interfered with their family
life. During these same two
years, Johnson & Johnson
employees actually expe
rienced increases in work
hours and workload because
of recession-related down
sizing and restructuring. In
other words, the employees
were actually working more
but finding their work fives
interfering less with family
fives.
Taking it one step further,
studies demonstrate that
The study from which
these figures are taken was
made by the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation.
The problem has been
identified. Bill Gates has
said that the present educa
tion system in the United
States is “obsolete.”
Are these dropout rates a
condemnation of the pres
ent educational system or
a reflection of cultures in
inner cities throughout the
country? Can an overhaul of
the education system result
in more students graduating
from high school? Is it the
system or the students?
There is no doubt that there
is a problem. Identifying it is
a family business
employees who feel cared
for are able to deal with
important family matters
and experience lower levels
of burnout are more loyal
to the companies for which
they work. This not only
increases productivity but
it also decreases turnover
rates and training costs for
businesses.
It is also well-document
ed that married people are
healthier than single people
and, therefore, less likely to
call in sick. Moreover, as
Maggie Gallagher puts it,
“Married people are less like
ly to show up for work from
time-to-time hung-over, sick
and/or sleep-deprived.”
There are many practi
cal low- and no-cost policies
that business owners can
put in place to demonstrate
their concern for employees
that will also benefit the bot
tom fine.
»
Flexibility - flextime,
compressed work week,
job sharing, flexplace
Allowing start and finish
times to be flexible on a day
to-day basis, or adjusting
work hours to give employ
ees an extra day away from
work while getting the
same number of work hours
from employees can benefit
employers and employees.
Job sharing allows some full
time positions to be filled
by more than one employee.
Time could be split daily,
by weeks, or by months.
Technology has opened up
many possibilities for a flex
ible workplace. Flexplace
can also refocus employee
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
much easier than solving it.
There must be education
on two levels. First, parents
of children must be educat
ed to the importance and
value of a good education.
And the parents must make
sure that their children go
to school and graduate from
high school.
When education has been
ignored by generations,
it seems to be an almost
insurmountable challenge to
change the culture that pre
vails in these families.
Still, unless the overall
education of Americans does
not improve our country will
slide into Third World sta
tus as populations of other
countries leave us behind.
Some authorities believe
that the point at which a
large segment of the popula
tion can be turned around
and that more and more
young people, where edu
cation is considered unnec
essary and unwanted, will
become victims.
It is a dilemma that may
or may not be solved. But a
Herculean effort should be
made.
performance evaluation on
outcomes and results, and
not just time spent in the
office.
Employee Needs
Assessment
Employers need to take
the time to listen to employ
ees through a survey, focus
groups, or interviews about
their work-family concerns.
Leave Time
In addition to maternity
leave, employers can offer
paternity leave and adop
tion leave. Personal leave,
upon manager’s approval,
may help retain valuable
and skilled employees who
would otherwise quit their
jobs at times of family need.
Resource & Referral
Services - Information
on Child and Elder Care
Employers can have
varying levels of involve
ment in providing resource
information. This service
may be as simple as pro
viding phone numbers and
descriptions of child care
facilities, health care provid
ers, and family activities, or
it could be as extensive as
having an employee dedicat
ed to finding organizations
that would meet employees’
family needs.
Adoption Assistance
Some businesses are begin
ning to subsidize the costs of
adoption to the same extent
they subsidize the costs of
childbirth.
See HICKS, page SA