Newspaper Page Text
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♦ FRIDAY, JUNE 30, 2006
(sjFf jf Houston Home f
CIU| t
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Don Moncrief Foy S. Evans
Managing Editor Editor Emeritus
Weathered the storm
Centerville mayor Harold Edwards faced a storm
Tuesday - the second one in a month to blow
through the city.
It wasn’t one of thunder, lightning or rain - that
would have been easy to deal with. Instead, it was a
meeting made up of citizens concerned over the pos
sibility the 100 percent homestead tax exemption cur
rently enjoyed by property owners 70 or older might
he changed and that alcohol sales might be allowed on
Sunday.
Approximately
100 residents
- standing room
only - attended
the first meeting.
They were vocal.
They were rau
cous. They were
adamant, deter
mined to be heard.
Edwards knew
that, anticipated
it in fact, but he
didn’t back down.
Instead he faced
them head on.
He stepped on
toes. He made
some people mad,
maybe a lot.
How that will all
pan out with resi
dents remains to
be seen and says
nothing about the
task of resolving
the aforemen-
tioned issues at hand.
But, in a time where it appears our leaders and/or
those competing for public office do nothing but kiss
babies, shake hands, and show up whenever an individ
ual or agency has done something good - as if to imply
they had something to do with the hard work - it’s good
to see someone take the road less traveled.
It may only be the first of many storms headed his
way, but in this particular case - in terms of “leader
ship”, we believe he weathered it well.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Kids have right to play in the streets
Who remembers as a child playing ball on your neigh
borhood street and one or more of your friends yelling
“car” and the game pausing as everyone moved out of
the street to allow the car to pass before resuming the
game? I do.
It seems that some people would deny that right to
our children: The right to actually play in the neighbor
hood they live in.
Just a few houses in from Tucker Road, on Ansley
Avenue, just 65 steps (less than 150 feet) from two signs
that say “25 mph” and “Slow Children at Play,” my chil
dren and other children in the neighborhood are trying
to play basketball an other ball games. Just around the
corner on Shane Circle, there is another sign that says
“Watch Children.”
Adults, including myself, have been out there playing
with them. Yet, someone has called the police to say that
they are “impeding traffic.”
On any given day of the week, from before sunrise to
late into the night, people are walking and riding bikes
on the same streets through our neighborhood. Do they
also “impede traffic?” I think not. This is a neighbor
hood where people live.
That’s right, live to walk, to ride bikes and to play
ball in the street.
Our neighborhood is expanding and it happens to be
expanding at the end of our street. We see work trucks
speeding down the street, as well as individual cars. All
over the state, property values have been reassessed.
The property value for my house and others in the neigh
borhood has risen considerably. This means more taxes.
What are these taxes for? Barbara Calhoun Park just
•down the street on Tucker road has taken down the bas
ketball goals. Where are the parks where kids can walk or
ride bikes to, and play? There were some basketball goals
outside behind Tucker Elementary. They are gone as well.
No one seems to want kids “hanging out,” but it
seems that they aren’t allowed to play in front of their
own house either.
No wonder kids get into trouble if no one wants them
around. Several of my neighbors have mentioned they
would like to see these additional taxes spent on putting
up speed bumps on Ansley Avenue, near the two inter
sections with Shane Circle to slow people down. Let our
kids be kids.
If you don’t want to be “impeded” by kids playing in
the street, move to a gated community that discour
ages people with kids from living there. But then, you
probably wouldn’t like that either, as you’d have to slow
down for a gate.
In Wednesday’s edition of the Houston Home Journal,
two sentences at the end of Daniel Gatlyn’s column were
inadvertently cut off.
They are as follows: “We are the branches, and as such,
depend continuously on the Vine. We should celebrate
again, our Declaration of Dependence upon Him who is
above all.”
But, in a time where it
appears our leaders
and/or those competing
for public office do
nothing but kiss babies,
shake hands, and
show up whenever an
individual or agency has
done something good
- as if to imply they had
something to do with
the hard work - it's
good to see someone
take the road less
traveled.
Everything relative and nothing new
My belief that the fol
lowing are truisms
was reinforced this
past weekend: 1) Everything
is relative; and, 2) The more
things change, the more
they stay the same. I also
made observations that
greatly interested me. Let
me share with you. But,
first, a little more back
ground.
Our family children,
grandchildren, and in-laws
went to Orlando, Florida
for them to “Swim With
The Dolphins” at Discovery
Cove. We also visited Sea
World. I had lots of time
to look and think, includ
ing driving for about eight
hours. Here are some of the
things I saw, and some of
the conclusions I reached.
■ There were lots of older,
white men working at the
Marriott where we stayed.»
Valets, bus boys, clerks,
etc. In fact, there was one
who appeared to be at least
70 stripping bed clothing
and putting it in a cart he
was pushing down the hall.
Could it be that retirees to
Florida don’t have enough
income (stock market prob
lems?) to live with increas
ing health-care costs, rising
gasoline prices, and other
cost of living increases?
■ Obesity is a national
epidemic. That, and tattoos.
I saw one woman, in a bath
ing suit, that was so large
(the woman and the suit), a
tattoo of a horse on her hip
actually turned out to be a
dinosaur! And, they have
them everywhere and so
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If you look up 'nice' in the dictionary...
Iwas laying about, trying
to find something watch
able in a summer devoid
of quality TV entertain
ment, when my four-year
old son approached my den.
He was holding a quarter
eaten chocolate chip granola
bar in one hand, and a half
eaten chocolate chip gra
nola bar in the other hand.
Scattered about his face was
three-fourths of a what used
to be a chocolate chip gra
nola bar.
“Daddy, would you like
one?” he said, offering me
the larger of the two.
“Sure. Thank you, Leon,”
I said, although his name
isn’t Leon (Only true “Andy
Griffith” fans will get that;
my son didn’t). “That sure
was nice of you. Why are
you being so nice today?”
He thought for a moment,
then stated, “Jesus said, ‘Be
nice.’”
I chuckled loudly.
“Really, is that what Jesus
said?”
“Yes, sir,” he replied.
“What book of the Bible
was that in? I don’t remem
ber that particular verse.”
He didn’t hesitate to
answer.
“It’s in the beginning,” he
said. “It’s in the beginning
of the Bible book.”
Before I could quiz him
further on his interpreta
tion of scripture, he darted
off just as I heard some
thing emanating from the
Larry Walker
Columnist
lwalker@whgb-law.com
many have so many. Reckon
they will be proud of them
when they are 64 (to quote
Paul McCartney)? Of course,
most of the grossly obese
ones won’t make it to 64.
■ A lot fewer Japanese
than when I last visited a
place like Discovery Cove
(is there another place like
Discovery Cove?). Why?
Time of the year? The
Japanese economy? Every
Japanese in the world has
already been there? I don’t
know. Just an observation.
■ Gatorland (not the foot
ball stadium in Gainesville)
is the leading billboard
advertiser going south.
Doesn’t everybody want
to see real, live, snapping
and snarling alligators?
You see lots of orange juice
billboards and there seems
to be lots of information
about Case Erotica and Case
Risque, etc. - although it
could be that for some rea
son, you just pay the Case
billboards more attention.
* Young, teenage boys are
interested in young teenage
girls (who, in many cases,
are even younger than they
Len Robbins
Columnist
airpub@planttel.net
TV that caught my atten
tion.
“You look up class in the
dictionary, you get a picture
of Bob Schieffer,” said Larry
King of CNN’s “Larry King
Live.”
He was referring to the
CBS newsman, but that’s
not what peaked my inter
est. I was interested in this
statement for two reasons:
A, if there is a dictionary
with pictures in it, I’d like
to know about it.
There’s nothing more
frustrating than having to
actually read a definition.
And, B, I was very bored.
So I began a search to
find this “pictorial diction
ary" that has alluded me all
these many years.
What I found is that
Larry King mentions this
dictionary often on his show
and in his printed ram
blings.
“When you look up clutch
in the dictionary, you’ll find
a picture of John Smoltz,”
jife
jg jmi
appear). The boy’s bathing
suits are much larger (baggy,
down to their knees) and the
girls are much smaller - in
fact, much, much smaller.
How their parents stand it, I
don’t know.
■ “Swimming With The
Dolphins” was really some
thing. Touching the dol
phins, watching them per
form, riding on their backs
and watching the smiles on
the faces of the grandchil
dren and even the children.
While in Florida, I got into
a discussion with my nearly
14 year old granddaughter,
Haley Way. It was about bas
ketball uniforms baggy,
basketball uniforms. I bet
her that within five years,
they would be shorter, tight
er, and better fitting. She
disagreed, but what does she
know? She’s not even 14.
And that got me to thinking.
Everything is relative, and
the more things change, the
more they stay the same.
Take those older, white
men working at the
Marriott. A few years ago,
many of their kind would’ve
been plowing mules or saw-
? 1 <aOR6 Hope we havethe
l -technology to ewooT down J
MiG&iLgg,;
he said of the Braves’
pitcher.
“When you look up the
word ‘tough’ in the diction
ary, it shows a picture of
actor Chuck Connors,” he
said of “The Rifleman”
actor.
“If you look up the word
‘thriller’ in the dictionary,
we get your picture,” he
said to author Frederick
Forsyth, who’s about as
thrilling as mud.
“When you look up the
word ‘idealogue’ in the
dictionary, you see (Pat)
Buchanan’s picture,” he
said, which leads me to
believe that an idealogue
is a person who writes col
umns I don’t understand.
“When you look up ‘news
man’ in the dictionary,
you see a picture of Dan
Rather,” which is somewhat
of an insult to Rather’s
successor, the “classy” Bob
Schieffer.
Yet another slight to
Schieffer: “Look up ‘class’
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
milling. And, certainly, even
if they need to work to make
ends meet, they live bet
ter than most people in the
world. Relatively, much bet
ter off.
Used to be it was the
Alligator Farm now it’s
Gatorland. The stars of
the show are still the same
snapping, snarling, twist
ing, alligators. And orange
juice was always a hot sell
in Florida along with cheap,
Florida souvenirs the sou
venirs are still a hot sell at
many gaudy, yellow-fronted,
tacky stores, and relatively,
the junk is just as cheap.
Girls looking for boys in
Florida and boys peroxiding
their hair (not as permanent
as tattoos, but still an atten
tion getter) is older than I
am. I know. It was already
going on in the 50’s and
60’s. Sans the peroxiding, I
tried some of it myself.
And what about
“Swimming With The
Dolphins”? Reminded
me of mudding for cat
fish and bream and shin
ers in Alligator Creek
in Washington County,
Georgia. Putting your
hands up under rocks and
roots and feeling that slimy
skin and hoping it wasn't a
snake. Quite exciting. You
even smiled when you pulled
out a fish.
Everything is relative.
And, really, there is nothing
new, is there?
in the dictionary, and there,
my friend, you will see a
picture of Tony Bennett,”
King said.
How many pictures are
under “class” in Larry’s
dictionary anyway? None,
I realized. There is no such
dictionary. The only “pic
tures” I found in any of the
two dictionaries I perused
were sketch drawings of
things like honeysuckles
and sombreros, and a dia
gram of a hyperbola, which,
according to my picture-less
dictionary, is a bunch of
squiggly lines discovered in
1668.
I should have known
better than to listen to
Larry King. It was he
who convinced me to pay
actual money to see “Crazy
People” in 1990 when he
gushed, “it’s one of the fun
niest movies to come down
the pike in a long, long
time.”
Or in 1993, when he said,
“Ivan Reitman’s latest,
“Dave,” is one of the fun
niest movies to come down
the pike in a long time.”
Or in 2001, when he said,
“‘America’s Sweethearts’...
is one of the funniest mov
ies to come down the pike in
a long time.”
Of course, he had cameo
roles in all of those afore
mentioned movies. I could
go on - but I won’t.
Like Jesus said (according
to my son): “Be nice.”