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INSj Volume 125, No. 12 Wednesday March 22,1995 50 Cents At the Crossroads this week Dogwood Festival is near The seventh annual Dogwood Festival is drawing near and Perry is taking on the appearance of a town in festi val. In addition to the blooms of dogwoods and azaleas, the downtown area' is colored with the addition of festival flags and yellow ribbons at many busi nesses. Activities began last jPSjpfJj weekend with Itrp&Jp— the naming of ||g§g|g|£p the new Miss ssaaiiiifii Dogwoods including Little Miss, Junior Miss, Teen Miss and Miss Dogwood. Events continue March 30 with the Idaka Club benefit card game party at the Rozar Park Community Center. Events April 1 focus on Carroll Street with a pancake breakfast, a run and walk, the annual arts and crafts display, a parade, entertainment and an attic sale downtown. At Rozar Park, a softball tourna ment and a tennis tournament will be held. Events April 2 focus on Rozar Park where family and friends day will be held. One of the highlights will be a free lunch, served by the Perry City Council. Other activities include a car show, horseshoe competition, kid’s games, and a pet parade. Entertainment will include an appearance by Cliff Patton and Skeeter, and tethered bal loon rides in the Brown and Williamson hot air balloon. The festival is sponsored by the Perry Area Chamber of Commerce. Committee Chair Karen Nikitopoulos said addi tional information is available at the chamber by calling 987-1234. Restaurants past health test Environmental officers for the Houston County Health Department inspected several restaurants in the county dur ing the period March 13-17. All of the facilities passed the test. Businesses, with their addresses and scores are: Angelina’s, 1500 Sam Nunn Blvd., Perry; 93. Angelina’s/Cherokee Rose Bar, 1500 Sam Nunn Blvd., Perry; 95. El Jalisiense, 115-A Russell Parkway, Warner Robins; 100. Food Plus, 1424 Sam Nunn Blvd., Perry; 100. Happy Store No. 433, 517 N. Perry Parkway, Perry; 86. Owen’s Ice Cream (mobile) 617 Oakview Square, Warner Robins; 100. Perry Country Club Concessions, 1000 N. Davis Drive, Perry; 100. Perr.y-Houston County Hospital, 1120 Morningsidc Drive, Perry, 98 Rib Cage, 704 Carroll Blvd., Perry; 88. noer nonorees STARS named Seniors tapped, page 5A Houston Times-Journal Official Legal Organ for Houston County, the City of Perry and the State of Georgia ■ ‘ . ■ ■ " ' : .’ JhHL ' . if * SI .Hk , V jßre JS ■ Times-Journal Photo by Jj Johnson WORKING THE CROWD Former President Jimmy Carter (right) speaks to a two-year-old while working the crowd outside the Butler Brown Gallery March 16. Carter and his wife spoke to and shook hands with many of the approximately 250 persons gathered at the gallery. President Carter visits Perry Promotes new poetry book during visit to Butler Brown Gallery By PAULINE LEWIS Society Editor Flashing his famous smile, for mer President Jimmy Carter looked like a favorite son on a campaign trail as he worked his way through the crowd of 250 to reach the Butler Brown Gallery March 16. The occasion was a local cele bration of the success of his latest book, “Always a Reckoning,” a book of poetry, which is a new ven ture for him. Its success has been measured by sales and the fact that it has been on the best-sellers list for six consecutive weeks and is in its seventh printing. Admitting that he was a little timid about publishing his poetry after having his first attempts reject ed by several magazines, he kept trying until he “got better”. He had insisted that local artist Butler Brown paint the cover for his book, against the wishes of the pub lishers to have their own artists do the work. Carter’s revelation over national television in 1976 that his wife, Rosalynn Carter, had given him Butler Brown paintings for his Christmas gift, helped give national prominence to Brown’s career. On this occasion, Brown took great pleasure in presenting the original painting of the cover to Carter for the Carter Library. On hand to greet the Carters offi cially were Mayor Jim Worrall of Perry, Mayor Donald Walker of Warner Robins and Sherrill Stafford, Chairman of the Houston County Commission. All three thanked Carter for the service he has, and is rendering to the nation and the world. Other elected and civic officials and friends were on hand to greet the Carters. The next day, Laveme Brown , wife of Butler Brown, reported that their large stocks of “Always a Library funding compromise reached Warner Robins City Council OKs new library funding formula By LARRY HITCHCOCK Times-Journal News Editor Funding for the county library system, threatened when Warner Robins declared it would not pay its share, may be back on track. A compromise worked out last week shifts most of the library fund ing to the county. Meanwhile, the cities of Warner Robins, Perry and Centerville all agreed to leave E -911 emergency dispatch funding untouched. The original compromise called for the county to fund the develop ment authority completely and for Celebrating 125 years of service to the citizens of Houston County The day the president came to town 3jHv JBPmm MMMWWWroiig' Hr MBB ", £ * S ,£;* l.'- : .::W P Times-Journal Photo by Pauline Lewi* MEET THE PRESS Former President Jimmy Carter answers questions from the press while standing beside his host for the evening, Butler Brown. Reckoning” and Rosalynn Carter's latest book, “Helping Yourself Help Others,” were almost sold out. In his remarks, Carter had referred to his wife’s book as being important because it shows how to reach out to the sick and aged peo ple “who don’t get much attention.” The Carters were en route to Plains and Rosalynn commented that it’s “good to be home again.” the cities to take over funding for recreation programs. The library funding would be based on the tax digest and E-911 funding would continue to be based on population. Warner Robins balked at the idea of the cities having to pay for the recreation program. The county will now pay 61.3 percent of the library bill, while Perry will pay 6.5 percent, Centerville 2.2 percent and Warner Robins 30 percent. Current expenditures have Warner Robins paying 49 percent, the county 36.8 percent, Perry 10.6 Snatching incidents Arrest made Man is charged, page 5A They had been spending time at the Carter Center where CBS has head quartered while covering news about the activities leading up to the Olympics, the Carter Center, and interviewing the Carters. Carter said he always had a warm feeling for Houston County, where in 1976. he received 85 per cent of the vote in his first race for the presidency. percent and Centerville 3.'6 percent. All that remains is for the com promise to be approved by the coun ty commission and all three city councils. The first step in that direction came March 20 members of the Warner Robins City Council unanimously approved changing their support to match the new for mula. Members of the Perry City Council and the Houston County Commission were expected to dis cuss the matter during meetings Tuesday night after T-J deadlines. Index Classified 7B Obituaries 2A Church 8B Potpourri 1B Editorials A 4 Sports 6A Legals 4B Woods and Water,.. 7A Robins named best AF base in the world By LARRY HITCHCOCK News Editor ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE “It’ll never get any better than this and it comes at absolutely the right time.” That’s how \ Maj. 1 William P. j|B Ha! 1 i n ’ l|j| described his * rtf ***&** reaction to the ESu ' announcement \ 4 Monday that Robins Air Force Base was - the winner of Ha ,| in the Comman der-In-Chief’s Installation Excellence Award as the best Air Force base in the world. “It’s a very significant win one in a series,” Hallin said. A member of the Base Realignment and Closure Commis sion is due at the base Thursday for a fact-finding tour. Hallin credited Team Robins and the surrounding communities with the award selection. “Every member of Team Robins, on the base and in the community, shares in this award,” Hallin said. Robins was selected in November as the Air Force Materiel Command’s nominee for the award. Crackdowns coming ... Perry mayor wants yard clutter ended From Staff Reports Perry Mayor James Worrall plans to ask the City Council for addition al help in eliminating yard clutter in the city. Worrall, in an announcement Monday, said he will seek a “more aggressive policy” of enforcing city ordinances. “There are areas throughout our community where litter and other items have been allowed to collect to the extent it is jeopardizing prop erty values of other homes in the neighborhood,” Worrall said. “The city has an obligation not to allow this to happen and in those cases where homeowners have been asked to clean up and remove litter and yard clutter and it has not been done, strict enforcement of city ordinances needs to be carried out,” Worrall added. PCTV to prosecute illegal hookups From Staff Reports Peachstate Cable TV manage ment is mad and it isn’t going to take it anymore. In the company’s most aggres sive action in its 27-year history in Perry, the company has announced it will begin prosecuting illegal hookups. Bill Mitchell, president of the firm, said “We believe there may be as many as 200 illegal hookups in our service area. We now have a new state of the art system in place to help us identify these illegal hookups.” Mitchell said those individuals who are suspected of theft of cable services will be turned over to local law enforcement agencies. He said he has discussed the mat ter with both Houston County Sheiiff Cullen Talton and Perry Police Chief Frank Simons. Both have pledged to cooperate with the Jk Home of the Georgia National Fair and Agricenter Other bases vying for the title were Dover AFB in Delaware, Luke AFB in Arizona and Misawa AB in Japan. “Winning this award underscores what we’ve known all along,” Hallin said. “We have outstanding people doing their jobs better than anyone else. We are a cohesive team focused on our mission and dedicat ed to our customers. “It is indeed an honor to be cho sen as the winner of this prestigious award. This award symbolizes the pride of Team Robins. Because of the hard work and outstanding part nership with our community, we won,” Hallin said. The award means Robins AFB will receive a trophy, a flag, a presi dential letter and a $200,000 incen tive award. The presentations will be made in Washington, D.C., in May, Hallin said. The $200,000 will be used “to improve the quality of life for every one involved with Team Robins,” Hallin said. A team will be selected to decide just how the money will be spent. The award “is about more than trophies,” Col. Jack Ward, 78th Air Base Wing Commander, said. “It’s about reputation, credibility and (See ROBINS, Page 54) Present city ordinances apply to items located under carports or on porches, automobiles which have not been removed within a reason able time, and other yard clutter stacked around a house. Worrall said there are several property owners in the community who have been asked on one or more occasions to clean up. Worrall said this has resulted in little visible results. “The city has even offered to assist in the removal of yard trash at several trouble spots, but the prob lems continue to exist,” Worrall said. In these instances, Worrall said, he will ask that ordinances be strict ly enforced with no exceptions granted and that all litter and other items be removed from the premis- cable television provider. “The first felony arrest could come as early as this week," Mitchell said Monday. Theft of cable TV services cov ers a range of activities including possession of a converter box not issued by PCTV and customers hooking themselves up to a cable line. Quoting state law, Mitchell said the state has determined it is a felony “to avoid, attempt to avoid, or cause another to avoid the charges, in whole or in part, for any cable television service.” Georgia law provides penalties up to 5 years imprisonment for the first offense, he said. “Cable theft affects every honest subscriber because it deprives us of revenue which could make the dif ference between needing to raise rates versus keeping them as they are." Mitchell said.