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4A THURSDAY, JULY 6, 2006 If Houston Home CLI| e .jjournal OPINION Daniel F. Evans Editor and Publisher Julie B. Evans Vice President Don Moncrief Foy S. Evans Managing Editor Editor Emeritus No sympathy for hunger strikers A group of about 150 war protestors began a hunger strike near the White House on Independence Day, proclaiming that they will continue the strike “until American troops come home from Iraq.” If they keep their word, funeral homes in Washington should get ready for big business. We put them in the same category as people who climb up on water tanks and threaten to jump, while praying that someone will risk his life to get him down. Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, has become the most recog nized symbol of the anti-war movement and she is among those participat ing in the hun ger strike. She says that she will move to Crawford, Texas, outside President Bush’s summer home, to con tinue the strike throughout the summer. “I will drink only water,” she said. She said that she will not eat any food. The purpose of the hunger strike is to get atten tion and sympathy. We have no sympathy for adults who stupidly do without food for the purpose of call ing attention to themselves to push their agendas. Let them do without food. We doubt that any of them will strike “until American troops come home from Iraq”. If they try that they will be dead a long time before American troops actually come home from Iraq, if they ever do. We’ll watch and listen as the hunger strike pro gresses. It probably will peter out in a short time. Cindy Sheehan may continue her vigil in Texas, drinking only water for public consumption while sneaking in a little food on the sly. We will believe it when we see it Hooray! Or is it too premature to become ecstatic about contractors finishing the wid ening of Houston Lake Road from Corder Road to Bear Branch Road by the end of this year? After all, the project will be 14* months late if is completed this year. Motorists who have endured this seemingly endless road proj ect have learned a long time ago to be skeptics and probably responded to the latest announce ment of a com pletion date with the words, “We’ll wait and see.” A spokesman for the Georgia DOT says there were several reasons for the delay, but none of them will satisfy jaded motorists who have endured the incon veniences imposed upon them. The original contract probably provided for some kind of penalty that the contractor would pay if the job was not completed on time. Obviously, if there was such a penalty it was not large enough. HOW TO SUBMIT LETTERS We encourage readers to submit letters to the editor. Letters should not exceed 350 words and must include the writer's name, address and telephone number. All letters printed in The Home Journal will appear with the writer’s name and hometown - we do not publish anonymous let ters. The newspaper reserves the right to edit or reject let ters for reasons of grammar, punctuation, taste and brevity. Letter writers are asked to submit no more than one letter per person per week We cannot guarantee that a letter will be printed on a specific date. The Home Journal prefers that letters be typed Letters to the editor are published in the order they are received as space permits. A Journal employee will call to verify the author of each letter. There are three ways to submit a letter to the editor: E-mail it to hhj@evansnewspapers.com, mail it to The Houston Home Journal at P.O. Box 1910, Perry, GA 31069, or drop it off at 1210 Washington St. in Perry - between 8 a m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The purpose ot the hunger strike is to get attention and sympathy. We have no sympathy (or adults who stupidly do without food (or the purpose ol calling atten tion to themselves to push their agendas. Motorists who have endured this seemingly endless road project have learned a long time ago to be skeptics and probably responded to the latest announcement of a completion date with the words, "Well wait and see.” Rumors can eat away at credibility Rumors are serious. Rumors are danger ous. Rumors are like a cancer eroding credibility. Houston County has been flooded with rumors the past several days, rumors picked out of thin air. I ran into this almost everywhere I went during the holidays. It is all about the chang es the Houston County Hospital Authority made suddenly last week. The board fired CEO Frank Aaron without mak ing an explanation to the public. The board had praised Aaron in Ajjril and given him a hefty pay raise. Then two months later he was fired. Most Houston Countians don’t know Aaron. Many never heard of him. But the rumors started, along with questions. In Houston County, where there unfortunately is a degree of suspicion about any action taken by a public body, the reaction was not unexpected. It doesn’t take much to get some people started. Some others higher up in the Medical Center’s hierar chy felt the axe, too. -— / ...And as they N. V head around the turn... ) We must let the true sunshine in True sunshine not dueling public state ments - is the anti dote for the pain and suf fering within Effingham County’s leading job recruit ment agency. TRUE SUNSHINE - not dueling public statements - is the antidote for the pain and suffering within Effingham County’s lead ing job recruitment agency, which forced its top execu tive to resign two weeks ago. It’s good preventive medi cine for what ails local and state governments, too. In a newspaper ad sched uled for publication today, the Effingham County Industrial Authority takes a roundhouse punch at Brad Lofton, who worked for two years as chief executive offi cer of the public authority until a majority of its board members showed him the door on June 13. The board alleges that Brad Lofton promised more than $5.5 million in “gifts” to potential corporate cli ents without approval by the public board. It also claims that Mr. Lofton vio Columnist fjf So rumors fly. Some wanted to know if Aaron has run afoul of the doctors, because it is well documented in the past that doctors brought about the downfall of at least one pre vious administrator. Nurses have been critical of the way things have been going at the Medical Center. Did this have anything to do with it? And so it goes. Rumors are trying to answer those ques tions and I have trouble put ting much faith in rumors. Of course, the announce ment that the land pur chased on Highway 96 for $5.5 million is being sold reopened an issue that had died down. The Authority says it is getting out of the real estate business and is lated his contract with the authority and wrongly obli gated Effingham’s taxpay ers to the promises he made. These are serious allega tions. They essentially paint Mr. Lofton as a loose cannon who couldn’t be trusted. They say he was making deals, without proper over sight, that might not be in the public’s best interest in this fast-growing county. If these allegations are true, then the authority was right to send him packing. But are they factual? Simply buying an ad doesn’t make something truthful. It means the public gets one side’s version of a story - the side paid for by the adver tiser. That’s not a knock on advertising. That’s just how it works. Mr. Lofton, quite predict ably, doesn’t think this ad in Effingham’s twice-a week newspaper is worth the paper its printed on. He said he took no actions without the approval of the authority’s executive board: Chairman Martin Wilkins going to make a profit on it. This probably had nothing to do with the shakeup at the Medical Center. The Hospital Authority can diffuse things by explain ing what occurred between April and June to change their opinion of Aaron’s worth to the Medical Center. One board member has been quoted as saying that the change was because the Authority wants to go in a different direction. That is their prerogative. The Hospital Authority is an independent body charged with running the Medical Center in the best interests of the citizens of Houston County. They must have a vision of how to do the job different - and better - than in the past. and board members Chris Beecher and Chap Bennett. And those “gifts” that the board is complaining about? Mr. Lofton said they were offers of land to a corporate prospect that he wanted to entice to Effingham. The company, which hasn’t been identified, apparently is willing to make a $33- million investment that will create 450 new jobs. “There was no obligation on behalf of the authority,” Mr. Lofton said this week. “The board would have had to approve the contract before it become an obligation.” If what Mr. Lofton says is true, then it sounds like he was doing his job. He shouldn’t have been forced to resign. In fact, if this compa ny comes to Effingham, then he probably deserves a raise. But which version of this story - the development authority’s or Mr. Lofton’s - is true? Without more informa tion, it’s impossible to tell. This is why the public must have access - sunshine, if you will - to key information regarding business recruit THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL , They can ignore the rumors and questions, if they want to. Members of the Authority are appointed by the county commission ers and once they take office they do not answer to the commissioners or anyone else. I doubt that they will want to take that route. All members of the Authority are long time res idents of Houston County and were appointed because the commissioners had faith in them. Despite the rumors and questions, there is no reason to believe that the actions they took are not an effort to make the Medical Center more responsive to the needs of Houston Countians. As an enthusiastic sup porter of Houston Medical Center who has benefited on several occasions from out standing service, I am inter ested in patients receiving quality care from concerned professionals. We do not need this cancer (rumors) to erode confidence in the Hospital Authority. Until someone proves oth erwise, we have to believe actions taken last week will prove beneficial. ment in Georgia. That doesn’t mean every aspect of the wheeling and deal ing, such as the identities of corporate prospects, must be revealed. But when public officials get down to the nitty gritty, and are pledging tax breaks, land or other incentives that have upfront costs to taxpay ers, then the public should have a seat at the table. After all, it’s the public’s money. In the case of Effingham’s development authority, the public is late to the table. It’s unclear who did what, with charges flying back and forth like tennis balls. But what is clear is that taxpayers, at some point, would be responsible for any deal that was made. And it’s also clear this incident isn’t going to help Effingham woo prospects. Let’s hope it doesn’t scare off potential inves tors and employers, because the county can use them. The lesson here: Let the sunshine in. Reprinted with permission from the Savannah Morning News