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EDITION
Perry & Houston County's
official Legal Organ
SATURDAY. DECEMBER 4, 1993
Christmas
festivities
continue
BY BRENDA THOMPSON
Staff Writer
Perry residents continue to usher
in the holidays in jovial style as yet
another weekend of exciting
Christmas at the Crossroad festiv
ities swings into full gear.
Setting the pace for the weekend
were the approximately 10 Perry
merchants who participated in this
year’s Christmas at the Crossroads
Store Front Decorating Contest
The contest culminated Thursday
evening when Grace Klouda of Fort
Valley judged the entries and
declared the Corner Gallery on
Carroll Street the blue ribbon
winner.
Other winners were Impressions,
second place, and Elegant Designs,
third place.
Other events on tap this weekend
include the Gingerbread House Arts
and Crafts Spectacular, the Victo
rian Christmas Bazaar, a Cajun Bar
becue, Christmas tree sales, the
Kids Yule Love Christmas Auction
Benefit, a downtown Perry mer
chants’ open house, a special
presentation by the Joy Choir of
Perry United Methodist Church and*
of course, one of the season’s most
loved and attended events—the
Community Candle Light Service
and the lighting of the community
Christmas tree.
The Gingerbread House Arts and
Crafts Spectacular is being held at
the home of Stephen and Marva
Dreher, 2741 Highway 41 North.
The event, which features a host of
Christmas arts, crafts and gifts,
kicked off Friday morning and will
continue- today and Sunday. Hours
are from 8:30 until 6:30 p.m. both
days.
The Victorian Christmas Bazaar,
the Cajun Barbecue and Christmas
tree sales are special fundraising
events being held by the Crossroads
Methodist Church. The bazaar will
be open today from 9 a.m. until 3
p.m. in the church’s fellowship
hall. The barbecue starts at 11 a.m.
Plates are $5 each. The Christmas
tree sales will continue daily.
Also on Saturday, a special
Christmas auction and benefit for
Kids Yule Love and Project Agape
Love (PAL), non-profit programs
designed to help the needy in our
area, will start with a reception
from 5:30 p.m. until 7 p.m. at the
National Guard Armory on Macon
Road in Perry. The auction will be
gin at 7 p.m. and continue until all
items are sold.
In addition to many wonderful
Hlf Good
morning, Perry
Home Journal
HIGHLIGHTS
In Sympathy
The community's sympathy is
extended to the families of
those who recently died. They
include Willie Bray James Jr.,
Henderson; The Rev. James
Franklin Glover, Albany;
Odessa Chatfield, Perry; Nora
Bush Mathis, Eastman; Eugene
Mitchell Sr., Warner Robins.
For more information, please
see page 2A
INDEX
BILL OVERTON 5A
CLASSIFIED 8A
DEATHS ?A
EDITORIALS 4A
PERRY SCRAPBOOK 4A
JIM SHIPLEY 4A
BRENDA THOMPSON 4A
CHURCH NEWS 2A
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(HHJ photo by Brenda Thompson)
Peggie Williams of the Perry Area Chamber of Commerce, far right, congratulates Celia Daniel
(center) and Jennie Baird of the Corner Gallery for winning first place in this year’s Christmas at
the Crossroads Store Front Decorating Contest. 7
items being auctioned off, there
will also be exciting door prizes
given away and heavy hors
d’oeuvres served. Sponsored by sev
eral Middle Georgia Civitan Clubs
and the Perry PAL program, tickets
for the event are $lO each.
“Childcare with Santa” is also
available.
Finally, on Sunday, residents
are invited to attend a special open
house in downtown Perry and spon
sored by the city’s downtown mer
From the North Pole!
Santa requests letters from boys and girls
The Houston Home Journal received a letter from Santa Claus earlier this week in hopes
we would let all children know that he and the elves are hard at work making toys to bring
to Perry, but he needs your help.
Santa needs to know what you want for Christmas. Last weekend after the Christmas
parade he dropped off a box at the post office for letters and asked us if we would print
them in the newspaper so he could see exactly what every boy and girl in Perry wants for
Christmas.
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Stratford edges Westfield for GISA Championship
Stratford Academy downed Westfield 22*14 for the GISA Class AAA title Friday
night. Hornet Coach Ronnie Jones (middle, with hat) consoles his team following
the defeat. For a complete description of the game, please see page SA.
PERRY, GEORGIA'S HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1870--FOR COVERAGE OF YOUR EVENTS, CALL 987-1823
f The Houston Homeff
Journal
1 SECTION—B PAGES. PLUS SALES CIRCULAR
chants. Festivities will begin at 2
p.m. and continue until 4 p.m.
Then, at 6 p.m., the Joy Choir
of Perry United Methodist Church
will present a yuletide concert in
the church’s sanctuary located on
Carroll Street.
The weekend will culminate
with the ever-popular Community
Candle Light Service which starts
at 7 p.m.
Sponsored by the Perry
Ministerial Association, residents,
carrying lighted candles, will walk
from various churches in town and
will congregate on the lawn of the
Houston County Courthouse.
The event, which will include
Christmas carols, musical
presentations by various groups and
a short devotional, is to conclude
with the lighting of the community
Christmas tree around 8 p.m.
All attendees are asked to bring
canned good items for the local
PAL program.
Pilot program
will combat
teen violence
Chief Simons presents proposal to BOE
By VETO F. ROLEY
Staff Writer
With the steady rise in juvenile
crime becoming more and more
apparent in Perry, city officials and
Perry Police Chief Frank Simons
have decided something needs to be
done.
Wednesday night, Dec. 1, Si
mons presented a pilot school
educational program to combat teen
violence to the Houston County
Board of Education and Perry City
Council.
"You are the only place we
know we can go to reach some of
these kids," Simons told the school
board.
The program, said Simons,
would include lessons on respect,
violence, the finality of death, gun
safety, use and misuse, juvenile
and adult law, the reality of prison,
the beneficial effects of a good edu
cation, responsibility and the fic
tional aspect of television, movies
and mass media. He added that drug
information received in the fifth
grade would also be reviewed.
To back up his point, Simons
showed the council and board an ar
ray of weaponry taken from Perry
teenagers. Included in the display
were a Tech-22 semi-automatic pis
tol with a clip capable of holding
over 40 rounds and a illegal sawed
off single shot shotgun.
Simons said that the 15-20
weapons represented cases that are
currently going through the court
system. He added that all the
weapons had been seized in the past
13 months.
"We are not saying this is a
school problem," said Simons.
"It's a community problem." He
added that only two of the weapons
shown Wednesday night were taken
from students at Perry schools.
Simons proposed that the anti
violence program start in the eighth
grade. The program would be
taught one day a week for 12-15
weeks, depending on the program
content.
Simons said it was important
that the students receive instruction
in respect and responsibility. "It's
hard to hurt somebody you respect,"
he said.
He said that nearly every confes
sion the police received contained,
'lt's not my fault'.
"To some extent they are
responsible," said Simons. "There
is a cost for doing something
wrong."
Simons also said that the section
on gun safety was important. "At
least we could keep them from
shooting themselves or somebody
Hospital employees will
receive salary increases
By VETO F. ROLEY
Staff Writer
Employees at Perry Hospital
will have their salary scales adjusted
allowing for higher salaries, the
Houston County Hospital Board de
cided at its regular meeting Tues
day, Nov. 23.
Steve Sheffield, director of hu
man resources for the Houston
Medical Center, came before the
board in October asking that they
change the salary structure because
a large number of employees were
"maxed out" in their positions.
Sheffield told the authority that
the changes would cost the hospital
system just over SIOO,OOO. He
added that the additional costs were
already included in the budget
Sheffield said that the present
salary structure was forcing the
hospital to pay new employees in
the middle of the pay grade in order
to be competitive, resulting in em-
123RD YEAR—VOLUME 97
else accidently."
The program would be based on
the D.A.R.E. program currently
taught at middle schools by Officer
Bill Hathcock to promote drug
resistance.
In addition to the D.A.R.E.-type
education, Simons also proposed a
school resource officer. The officer
would be a regular police officer, he
said, "whose beat is the schools."
He said the school resource offi
cer would help the school in disci
pline, especially in serious fights
where someone is seriously injured
or where someone pulls a weapon,
Please see PROGRAM, page 8A
School board
reacts favorably
towards program
By VETO F. ROLEY
Staff Writer
Although the school board
members present at the meeting
were favorable to to implementing
the violence and weapons abuse
program proposed by Perry Police
Chief Frank Simons, they decided
to put off action on the proposal
until it could be presented to the
Warner Robins Police Department
and the Houston County Sheriffs
Department
"We are leaning towards it" said
school board member Skip Talbert.
"This is something the school
board takes very hard."
Simons told the board that he did
not want to present the proposal to
the other law enforcement agencies
only to have the school board reject
the proposal.
Houston County School Super
intendent Tony Hinnant told Si
mons that he would go with him to
present the program to the Sheriffs
Department and Warner Robins Po
lice Department.
"You (the schools) are the only
place we know we can go to reach
some of these kids," Simons told
the school board. "The only way
you get into it (the program), is
that you are a collection point (of
teenagers)."
"The school board wants all the
help it can get," said Talbert. "The
school board is here as a preventa
tive measure." He added that no one
had been shot on a Houston County
school campus.
Talbert added that the school
board had a zero-tolerance policy for
anyone caught with a weapon on
campus. "Students who were
caught on campus with a gun are
not in the school system," he said.
ployees maxing out quicker.
Another October proposal by
Sheffield, however, was assigned to
a committee for study by the board.
Sheffield also proposed that the re
tirement system be changed to give
hospital employees a chance to con
tribute to their own retirement plan.
That proposal is scheduled to be
considered by the authority during
its January, 1994, meeting.
The authority also approved of
$42,000 for Perry Hospital to con
nect a transformer to the hospital.
Georgia Power has agreed to build a
new transformer for the hospital to
replace the overloaded transformer at
the hospital; but, the hospital is re
sponsible for connecting it to the
building.
The authority also approved
writing off just under $150,000 in
bad debts at Perry Hospital. Perry
Hospital will also receive $10,233
for indigent care.