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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 JF ' j. - Jr m wT"' " ■ .1 |i f ifipp^np^ (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. mam v? r fe-’i', Vyj \ ajUJMg JBfc&fe: f|l|| |®. 1 i r M 111 l||ol 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.