Page 4

LEVY COUNTY JOURNAL

THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 2006

 

= YOUR VIEW

Rules area lose- lose situation

To the editor:

“By Right” rules are a lose-lose proposition for Yan-
keetown.

The core players of “SWAY”, “SAVE YANKEETOWN”
and “CITIZENS FOR RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT”
have stated that they “are not against development, but only
want people to abide by the “rules”. As every adult. knows,
nothing in life is simple or clear when somebody says just
“do it by the rules”. It always means do it by “my rules”,
and does not involve cooperation, let alone the ability to
reach a win-win position.

The core players say they would have us enter “by right”
agreements with developers—regardless of financial or
aesthetic costs that would be largely settled via negotiations.
There will be significant costs to Yankeetown in terms of
‘both review and infrastructure dollars and the final appear-
ance of the development product.

They seem willing to sabotage a perfectly good grant for a
new water system that we desperately need in order to avoid
fines for non-compliance to standards—let alone offering a
safe supply of water to everyone in town. Why? Because ‘it
might benefit developers’! An offer for the sale of the land
required for quick completion of the water project, by the
developers can’t even be considered.. When Yankeetown is
in non compliance, will we have to condemn and fund land
we could have purchased with grant monies?

And I’ll wrap up with the most bizarre position of all:
Yankeetown would, under their leadership, disdain any
OTED funds (large amounts of state monies fast tracked to
solve infrastructure problems); i.e. water distribution and
sewer systems. And WHY? Because it might help devel-
opers—, folks it’d help all of us! Why do the core players
want all of us to forgo 85 percent grant monies so we can
pay 100 percent of the costs with Yankeetown tax monies?
The infrastructure needs of our town are in the millions and ,
we need the grant monies to avoid thousands of dollars per
household assessments.

Ron Armstrong
Yankeetown

 

Yankeetown needs the FDLE report

To the editor:

The New Oxford American Dictionary defines “dogma-
tism” as: the tendency to lay down principles as:incon-
trovertibly true, without consideration of evidence or the
opinions of others. This is a just appraisal of the attitude
of the core players of “SWAY”, “SAVE YANKEETOWN”,
or “CITIZENS FOR RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT’—
whatever their current nom de guerre.

I don’t have.all the.answers—I probably. don’t-know-all_-
the questions. What T do know is that accusations ‘and innu-*
endo, regardless of how many times or how loudly’ they are
repeated and embellished, don’t add up to FACT unless you
have evidence. For all the ugliness and noise I,-nor anyone
I know, has yet to see a FACT that in any way impugns the
current office holders in Yankeetown government. Both the
mayor and the aforementioned core players requested the
current FDLE involvement. I would be very willing to live
by FDLE findings with regard any issues of criminality that
they uncover.

Should the current investigation find that intentional
wrongdoing by the office holders occurred; the core players
will get a very public apology from me. It is only fair that if
there are no charges made that “they” would issue a public
apology to the citizens of Yankeetown whose government
they will have slandered; who’s very name, Yankeetown, —
they have made a laughing stock; and for the lost time and
hard feelings they have fomented. And further; that they
would issue a very specific apology to the mayor they vili-
fied and held up to ridicule for nine long months.

Consider this as a possible outcome; the special election
is held; the core player’s slate of candidates are elected; and
then the FDLE publishes findings fully exonerating current
town government. We are stuck at that point with a ‘ ‘govern-
ment” that has been elected on completely false premises.
Dave Berkley
Yankeetown

Quotes of the Week

As long as you keep a person down,
some part of you has to be down there to
hold him down, so it means you cannot
soar as you otherwise might.

Marian Anderson

 

       

        
      
   
   
      
       
 
      
      

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HE COUNTY PAPER «+ EST. 1924
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e Levy County Journal is published to serve the people C «ong
hee : arolyn Risnér
| of Levy County as the leading information source that
empowers the community while never Office Manager/Chiefland
compromising our principles. Robin Heath
We:
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our community, Staff Writer

i

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If you think you’re not being

manipulated, think again

| ost of us like
to think we’re
pretty smart and

can’t be easily duped. |

Oh, sure, we all fall
victim every now and again
to a simple get-rich-quick
scheme, but the old saw, ifit
sounds too good to be true,
it probably is, hasn’t been in
circulation umpteen years for
nothing.

I like to think I’m not
gullible but a conversation
last week with a potential

employee reminded me that

we’re all duped--daily.

By ‘television.

Now if that’s how you
make your livelihood or you
have stock in Disney (‘the
parent company of ABC” I

+ have heard once tog many, 0°
times on Good Morning,

America), don’t take um-
brage. °

I like television just as
much as the guy sitting there
in his sweats eating chips,
drinking beer and watching
the boxing match.

But television dupes us--as
much as, if not more than,
any medium can.

I learned it firsthand a few
years back when the news
magazine 48 Hours rolled its
camera crews and produc-
ers into the small Northeast
Georgia town where I was
working.

A sensational murder had
taken place, the accused was
found guilty and sent to jail
and thanks to some careful
maneuvering on his family’s
part, 48 Hours believed the
boy was being railroaded.

The reporter and producer
showed up at the newspaper”
where I worked asking to
speak with the reporter: who
had covered the trial.

That was me..,..,,

However my: company
had a strict policyagainst
speaking on or off camera to

_ TV folks and my Popisner

said no.
They then bought back is-
sues with my stories all over

L

Cassie Journigan

Sales Representative/Bronson
Laura Catlow

Typesetier
Wilma Jean Asbell

 

the front page and disap-

» peared.

Months went by. The story
never aired. And then the
call came. The convicted
murderer was being released
from jail, my inside-the-jail
informant said. It was all
on the QT he said, but if I
got there, I would have an
exclusive.

It was late Friday night’
but I grabbéd Denise'and’ off’
she and I went.

Imagine my surprise when
we pulled into the parking
lot along side the CBS van.
On the QT, right.

To make it short, I saw
people placed in position,
told what to do and how
to react when this kid was

released from the jail. Noth-

ing impromptu or candid
about him running into his
mother’s arms.

Finally, when the show
aired, there were my news-
paper fronts plastered all
over the TV screen and what
ensued was a piece that
would have torn anyone’s
heart out--everyone except
me because I had sat through
the murder trial, heard the
gory details of how this 16-
year-old boy killed a man
and then went to a truck

‘stop, ordered a steak and
' strawberry milkshake while

wearing his bloody clothes.
Of course, 48 Hours never

mentioned any of that.

All the facts were edited
out and what was left was a
carefully orchestrated story
that was designed to glean
sympathy...and it did.

I love newspapers or else I

THINKING OUT
LOUD

Carolyn Risner

wouldn’t
be in this
line of
work.

I was
telling
someone
today
that the
naysayers
out there
are say-
ing newspapers will soon
become a thing of the past
since the arrival of instant
gratification with Internet
and television.

I disagree.

- Newspapers are here to
stay. We preserve the history

of our communities and pro-

, Vide the best refrigerator art

' ever. When was the’last time”

' you hung-a’20-second sound
byte from the TV news on
your Tappan? .

And if you’re one of the
people who chides the lib-
eral media for distorting the
truth, don’t class newspapers
into that category.

Sure there are papers —
that, like 48 Hours, edit out
the facts so that you can be

‘swayed [manipulated] to

their way of thinking.

But don’t forget, it’s called
the liberal media.

We purists in the newspa-
per business know we’re not
party to that.

We’re the press.

The Fourth Estate.
Newspapers often take a
beating for being biased and

unfactual in their reporting.

Truth to teli, there are
probably more mistakes
made in other journalism
outlets because they have
to be spontaneous in their

reporting on a moment’s

notice.

People berate newspapers
for being biased, but I am
here to tell you we’re all
being manipulated by other
means, whether knowingly
or not.

See Carolyn Page 5

Miss Honey says

unday, Aug. 13 6:30

p:m. Hi, here comes
Miss Honey, poor ole soul,
got no money, but a heart of
gold!

It sure has been a dreary
day, wet and rainy, a very
good day for little ducks. But
as for Miss Honey I like the
sunshine, although I don’t
get out in the sun if I don’t
have to, because my mother
and my grandmother had
skin cancer. Mama’s doctor
told me years ago to stay out
of the sun, so I try to do just
that.

By the way I am
surrounded by love today.
(Hush, Donald) am too!
Little Bit is on my legs on
the recliner asleep, D.J. is

asleep on the back of
chair, a
Misty is
asleep on
the left
arm of my
chair and
Sweet Pea
is asleep ink
the rocker.
Now you
tell me that
isn’t love!
Oh yeah it is too.

Their worst habit is to tear
up newspaper if I leave it
laying and don’t shut them
up in their covered playpen.
Then they can’t get out
unless I let them out. But if
I open the pen door and say
OK get in the pen they go

  

MISS HONEY

Letme
introduce -

myself

‘ , ] riting is my
passion,
livelihood and
the way I think. I am the
newest reporter on staff at
the Levy County Journal.
I come here by way of a
path of twists and turns and
meanders,
not unlike
the river
that
borders
our
county’s
western

residence, an old 50-foot
boat, was on another

significant river. That

river was the Potomac
and our boat was docked
on its southern shore. The
county was Westmoreland,
in Virginia, and it was

birthplace of James Monroe ©

and childhood home of
George Washington.

I last wrote for newspapers ©

there. Nicknamed the
Northern Neck due to _
its location on Virginia’s
upper peninsula, like
Levy it too was an ‘area
of farms, wilderness,
fishing communities and

vineyards. My beat included ”

local political events and
feature. stories based on the
community life unique to

a rural area. I gave it up to

finish a long-delayed college « ;

degree.

After graduating, I moved
with my husband Wayne arid’
son Kelly to Florida. Wayne **

_ is a Florida Cracker and like

most Floridians I’ve met
who can claim generations
born in this wonderful state,
he is deeply grateful for

his heritage. He proudly
proclaims this on his favorite -
belt buckle: “American by
birth; southern by the grace
of God.”

Wayne doesn’t quite
believe that Virginia, my
birthplace, is actually part
of the-South. At least when
we've disagreed about
something.

I am grateful to now be a
resident of Levy County. I
feel completely at home in
this beautiful land. This is
the first place I’ve actually
set down roots by buying
a piece of land. I love the
rolling scrublands, the
forests of tall pines, bent
turkey oaks and the many
varieties of palms.

The pastures of
livestock delight me, as
do the sightings of gopher
tortoise, armadillo, pileated
woodpecker and small red
fox. I especially love the
Suwannee with its springs,

 

cypress, manatees, alligators.
‘4

See Cassie Page 5

right in and I close the door
so they are very good little
boys.

My friend and I had lunch
today together. She and I are
about the same age and her
name is Dianne. No, it isn’t
a boyfriend. I’! finish this
later.

Monday, 5:15 a.m. OK,
here I am back again, right
back where I’ve always been
(in my recliner) Ha, ha!

Gosh it is‘a pretty morning
after such a wet afternoon
yesterday and I don’t like to
drive when it’s raining or be
out in bad weather.

But, if we get caught
away from home in the rain

See Honey Page 5

i

;

onto