Page 4 LEVY COUNTY JOURNAL 0 BE . : 0 A THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2006 YOUR VIEW ee Nuclear power concerns shared r To the editor: Nuke Power: “Still to this day, we don’t have a good way to treat the waste.” “This is just too dangerous...Still to this day, we don’t have a good way to treat the waste.” “There are 103 nuclear power reactors in the United States producing about 20 percent of the country’s electricity. The last nuclear plant was licensed in 1978, the year before the Three Mile Island disaster, but didn’t open until 1987 Despite the potential benefits... “Nuclear power has proven to be too costly and too risky,” said Tom Smith of Public Citizen’s Austin office. “The in- dustry can’t generate electricity without billions of dollars in subsidies.” When the first ( South Texas Project in Texas) finally opened in 1988, it was eight years behind schedule and car- ried a price tag that ballooned $4.5 billion over initial projec- tions. Five years later, after setting records for productivity and reliability, the facility sat idle for a year amid a barrage of problems with federal regulators who found fault with plant maintenance, engineering and management. The construction delays and management problems also gave rise to lengthy litigation against original contractor vor “Copyrighted Material Oe Syndicated Content Available from Commercial News Providers” I adh “~ Brown and Root and managing partner Houston Lighting & R eC a C h in 2 th eC un re A C h TD b / eC Ss f a Vr Power that was not resolved until the mid-1990s. Luke Metzger of Environment Texas voiced many of the same concerns as Smith. “This is just too dangerous,” he said. “Still to this day, we don’t have a good way to treat the waste.” The South Texas Project stores:spent nuclear fuel on-site in concrete and stainless steel containment pools. It plans to store the waste from its new units in the same way until the federal government creates a permanent disposal facility. A National Academy of Sciences report released least year questioned whether the industry fully understood all the safe- ty and security concerns involved in storing a large amount of spent nuclear fuel on-site...” Glen Garner Bronson Who are we kidding? . To the editor: Through a violent and divisive campaign of fabrication and intimidation over the past nine months the town of Yankeetown has, with the help of the governor’s office, had forced down its throat through special election, a town leadership that is as consistently dishonest as the methods they used to bludgeon out of office the people who were trying to operate:a legitimate town government. No thoughtful person can believe there was a fair election when their entire campaign was, in light of recent FDLE recommendations to the States Attorney, based on lies. The campaign promises of these people of open, democratic government and respect for landowners rights were simply lies. All actions of this leadership to date demonstrate an in-your-face strategy to delay and ultimately stop development at any cost including the financial ruin of Yankeetown. Citizens who are not in lockstep with their prearranged agenda are arrogantly dismissed. In their psychopathic drive to prevent development in Yankeetown this mayor and council make decisions on the fly that are violations of sound business practice and appear to have abandoned any semblance of fiscal responsibility - and accountability. Yankeetown is currently faced with developments in the range of $140 million. During a recent town meeting the mayor and council against the advice of not only the town attorney but also a local attorney who specializes in real estate, hired a local, unqualified person with no zoning experience over several other highly qualified applicants. The mayor and each council person made statements on the record that their candidate is the least qualified. Then, they hired him. There followed discussion of hiring a professional zoning person to train the unqualified person just hired. This is ludicrous. Why did we not just hire an experienced professional? More egregious is the hiring of a separate zoning consultant to oversee the review of major projects requiring detailed site plan review. Now we have two zoning officials. At what cost? The town received a number Continued on page 5 Quote of the Week “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” ~ Dr. Seuss Y COUNTY JOUR! “HE COUNTY PAPER - EST. 192 Vee Our Mission The Levy County Journal is published to serve the people of Levy County as the leading information source that empowers the community while never compromising our principles. We: *reflect our community in everything we do. *provide leadership that contributes to the betterment of our community, *record the history of our county and make a difference in the quality of life for our residents and merchants. *promote readership of community events that foster better citizens. *promote readership of advertising thereby fostering a healthy economic environment. or most of my life, my mother made New Year’s Eve a special time in our family. With the clock ticking downward on the old year, my mother saw Dec. 31 as yet another day to rid her cupboards and refrigerator of Christmas snacks. She achieved this by host- ing a very informal evening of heavy hors d’oeuvres and her infamous non-alcoholic punch for family and friends who wanted to stop by, play catch-up and eat yet again. Starting right after dinner the folks would start drop- ping by and usually by 10 everyone was in place—gath- table eating, laughing and _ ~ talking about their lofty reso- lutions for the new year. In my hearty-eating fam- ily, at least a dozen would vow to lose 30, 40 or 50 pounds in the coming year. No one set a realistic goal and of course, no one ever lived up to their resolve when it:came to biscuits, gravy and fried pork chops. Someone else would vow to quit smoking, another drinking, someone else curs- ing. And my family, the nay- sayers they are, never offered words of encouragement, just rolling eyes and shaking heads as they muttered under their breaths, “Sure you will. Sure you will.” I have kept a diary/journal for as long as I can remem- ber and on the first page of each new year, I would itemize my own resolutions and by the time Valentine’s Day rolled around, I would read with dismay that I had not kept any of them and my spirit was broken. A few years back, I de- cided we set ourselves up to fail by setting goals that are almost always unattainable. That’s when I decided that resolutions are good, but they have to be realistic. With 2007 on the horizon, Who We Are Managing Editor Carolyn Risner Office Manager/Chiefland Robin Heath Staff Writers Cassie Journigan Neal Fisher Sales Representative/Bronson Laura Catlow Tynesetter Wilma Jean Asbell Delivery/Clerical Rhonda Griffiths I already have a few things in mind for the coming year. And by sharing them on the printed page, there will be at least one person, maybe two, who will hold me account- able for that which I set out to do. 1) I resolve to ride my bike more. I actually enjoy: taking it for a spin around Chiefland—once I get on it. It’s getting it out the kitchen door and getting on it that I have the problem with. 2) I resolve to be more sociable. Throughout the Christmas season, I managed to make almost every party and open house I was invited to, even if I only stayed 30 minutes. I realized how much I had been missing by declining invitations through the year. - esides, | have just about caught up on all the Law and Order: SVU reruns. 3) I resolve to write, yes, actually hand-write, more - letters to my children. We email often but my youngest told me that he enjoyed the three-page letter I wrote him on a steno pad while one of — my government meetings lulled. There’s something about holding a letter in your hand publication). Carolyn Risner Letters to the Editor 1) Letters should be 500 words or less. Letters over the word limit may be edited for space and clarity. Letters -longer than 500 words that are difficult to edit, may be considered for guest columns. 2) Letters must be signed and bear the signature of the author. Please include a daytime phone number (not for THINKING OUT. that can’t be LOUD beat. . 4)1re- solve to talk less, listen more and re- flect often. 5) I re- solve to in- vite friends over fora real meal more than I have. I am a pretty good cook but when you live alone, you tend to rely on Stouffer’s and the Red Baron more than you should. And let’s not forget the peanut butter. I should own stock in Peter Pan and Jif. 6) I resolve that when I do watch television, I am _ ered-around the dining room-—imy ancient-aged standard-—-—— going to watch the 20 mov- touring bike and T enjoy, , ies Tom loaned me instead of Law and Order reruns or Bonanza. After all, I pretty much have the dialogue memorized. 7) I resolve to get my home office organized. It also functions as my library and storage unit. I did well for a while but now it looks like a war zone. I will sift, sort and throw away until I have a workable work space. 8) And my biggest resolu- tion is to educate Cassie and Annette on pop culture. The women must have - lived in a cave the last 10 years and I am taking it as my personal crusade to bring them into the know about life outside CSPAN and the MacNeil-Lehrer Report. - And with those eight things to focus on the next 365 days, it won’t give much time to mope, or ponder, or dwell. Until Feb. 14, at least. Happy New Year! Miss Honey says... ec. 26, 2006 Good morning! ‘Tis the day after Christmas and I’ve sat here alone except for Jesus and my little boys (dogs). They don’t know they are dogs! And I’ not tell them! No, I didn’t go to my sister’s after all, but stayed home this Christmas and just did whatever pleased me and the little ones. They had ham and cheese for Christmas lunch and I had a can of chicken noodle soup. But don’t worry, I had food in the freezer just didn’t cook or bake. Just sat here all day in my gown and did nothing! Hope everyone had a very good Christmas. FE @ As for me, F# I really did enjoy the day and Mary and Donald brought me an angel for Christmas and I really am surrounded by love. Yes, puppy love. Little Bit is on the back of MISS HONEY _ the recliner behind my head. Sugar Bugger is in my lap, A Promises of anew year he beginning of a year always reminds + me of presents. Take an unopened’ calendar. Especially [jie those big, colorful holding one Zz sets me to GASSIEJOURNIGAN dreaming Columnist about what its unfolding may reveal. I like opening the calendar for the first time and looking for my favorite - memory days—birthdays, anniversaries and holidays. Is my anniversary this year on a work day? Such a good day to play hooky, and do something fun and foolish with Wayne. I love seeing the cartoon, quote or picture selected by the calendar designer to describe each month. I like looking at the spring and summer months when we are experiencing a cold winter. However, I never look at _ winter pictures during warm weather. But most especially, I like’ looking at each month and wondering what will unfold during those days marching from one to 31 in little boxes across the page. And every year when I look iat'my new calendar, I ©. wonder when I: will see the —. fulfillment of my new year’s resolutions. : I’ve noticed as I get older that often my resolutions follow me year after year. I don’t worry about that—I figure I’m just perfecting the technique or new habit until I finally get it right. My 2007 resolutions begin with prompts to celebrate life. I will watch one recent: movie a week, or read a recent novel. I’ve been in a cultural vacuum since our son moved out and left for college. Carolyn keeps ” getting after me for failing to notice new books, new movies, new music. So Carolyn, I count on your help. I will also renew old friendships or take the time to develop new ones each ; week. That could mean a visit to someone close by or a hand-written letter to someone far away. I resolve to spend less time as a consumer and more time as a conserver. This means calling all-stops to spending money foolishly—no more shoes and purses, trinkets, or craft supplies, without giving away a like item from my wardrobe, or finishing a See Cassie page 11 Misty is in-the front window and Sweet Pea is on the couch sleeping. Now if that isn’t love — tell me what is! Yes, unconditional love. My friend Becky also gave me a nice basket of goodies. So I’ll say thanks to all of you. Hope you had a very Merry Christmas and that all your wishes came true! Oh yeah, Barbara, where are you? I didn’t see or hear from you. Hope you had a very Merry Christmas too. Until next week I'll say Happy New Year and may the Good Lord take a liking to you!