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6A SATURDAY, JULY 8, 2006 IX ROCK From page 1A price is still below what others could provide. “If we re-bid it, it would cost more. The only way we could guar antee it is to make them bond, but that would cost us more.” The city uses rock every day, in things such as road, water and sewer line projects and street repairs. Baker attributed the rising cost to the increased fuel'and per sonnel costs to get the rock out of ground. The two largest items on the bid list were $189,194 for the water main reloca tion along Wellborn Road and $96,000 for roof repairs to the Civic Center. The waterline reloca tion, part of the widening of Wellborn Road is a special purpose local option sales tax project that was awarded to BRI Utility Construction of Lawrenceville. “It kinda gives you an idea of how much our utility department saves us, “ Baker said. The roof repairs are for about 70 percent of the roof on the Civic Center. Mayor Donald Walker noted repairs were done about 10 years ago, and this one at the 10- year price will be guaran teed at 15 years. “They’re doing other 15-year projects and can order the materials now,” Baker said. The council also approved transferring up to $70,000 from the unobligated general fund to general government grounds and maintenance to purchase two rebuilt indus trial Caterpillar natural Organization to award scholarships to African-Americans Special to HHJ Thirty $2,000 scholarships are available to African- American graduating high school seniors and college students who are pursuing careers in the health care industry. The scholarships, fund ed by the United Health Foundation and PacifiCare Foundation, are offered on behalf of the African American Scholars Program. Starting this fall, the $2,000 scholarships will be awarded to graduating high school seniors entering com munity college, university or an accredited technical college and college students majoring in an approved health care program. To qualify, applicants must have a minimum grade point aver age of 3.0 or B average and reside and/or attend schools in California, Georgia, Maryland and Texas for the CITY OF CENTERVILLE NOTICE OF RE-ZONING A public hearing is scheduled for consideration of an application for the re-zoning of property from its current classification of R-l (Houston County) to PUD (City of Centerville) on Thursday, July 27,2006 at 6:3opm before the Centerville Planning and Zoning Commission at Centerville City Hall located at 300 E. Church Street, Centerville, GA. A public hearing on the Planning and Zoning Commission’s recommendation to the Centerville Mayor and Council on the re-zoning application is scheduled at the Council’s regular, monthly meeting on August 1,2006 at 7:00 pm at Centerville City Hall located at 300 E. Church Street, Centerville, GA. The subject property proposed for re-zoning is described as: All that tract or parcel of land lying and being in Land Lot 100, Fifth Land District of Houston County, Georgia, beginning at the intersection of the northerly right-of-way of Houston Lane (50’ right-of-way) and the westerly right-of-way of Houston Lake Boule vard (80’ right-of-way); thence along said westerly right-of-way of Houston Lake Boule vard, a distance of 255.83 feet to an iron pin set; thence leaving said right-of-way, south 88°26’54” west, a distance of 361.27 feet to an iron pin set, said point being the POINT OF BEGINNING; thence continuing south 88°26’54” west, a distance of 589.33 feet to a point on the land lot line between Land Lot 83 and Land Lot 100, said point marked by an half inch pipe 0.30 feet east of line; thence along said land lot line north 00°03’38” east, a distance of 406.60 feet to a one inch pipe; thence continuing along said land lot line north 00°10’22” east, a distance of 132.00 feet to an iron pin set; thence south 88°39’54” east, a distance of 599.70 feet to an iron pin set; thence south 01°16’00” west, a distance of 508.80 feet to said POINT OF BEGINNING, and containing 7:14 acres of land, more or t less, according to a plat of survey prepared by Adams & Company, dated May 2, 2006. § gas engines and have them installed. The engines are used to power the air con ditioning and heating sys tems for City Hall and the Civic Center. One is no lon ger working, Baker said, and the other has about 22,000 hours on it. Baker explained he had yet to get a price quote from Caterpillar on new engines, but found out it would about 13 weeks to get them. He found two rebuilt ones with all new electronics in West Virginia at about $25,000 each. “They’ll credit us back about $9,000 per engine if the heads, blocks and cranks are not cracked,” said Baker Harvilla asked if the city should keep the working engine as a back up. Baker said it would cost about $15,000 to have it rebuilt and it doesn’t do any good to have it just sit. The additional costs are for removal, installation and to align them with the sys tems. Baker said he expects the engines here by the end of next week. They will be installed one at time and run for a week, before removing the existing working engine. The other budget transfer is a six-year interest free SIOO,OOO loan for the city golf course from the city’s natural gas fund, for a new well at the golf course. Walker said, “The well at the golf course has gone bad. A lot has been invested out there. We’ve got to have this well.” The loan would be paid back from the golf course fund, paid for by user fees at the course to other city enterprise fund, the natural 2006-2007 school year. For more information about the African American Scholars program and to download an application, visit www. pacificare.com/aahs. The deadline for applications is July 31, 2006. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, African Americans comprise 13 per cent of the U.S. population, but only about 6 percent of all matriculating students in medical schools in the country. This is a clear exam ple of the declining inter est among young African Americans in the health industry; and unfortunately, the trend of statistics like these may ultimately affect the quality and delivery of health care in the African- American community, according to Reed Tuckson, M.D., senior vice president of Consumer Health and Medical Care Advancement gas fund, which Walker said was “real strong.” The Council also followed the recommendation of the police chief and the city traf fic engineer to eliminate the school zone along 1.4 miles of Russell Parkway from Marvin Boulevard to 100 feet west of Self Street. In a memo, Police Chief Brett Evans said there are no crossing guards on duty in that area due to lack of foot traffic as all children south of Russell parkway are assigned bus pick-up routes by the school board. The sign will be removed and the speed limit will remain at 40 miles per hour along that section of Russell Parkway. “It’s neat to me,” said Councilman Steve Smith. “We’re gonna eliminate a restriction that is not need ed.” Walker also had “the honor and privilege to swear in three new Warner Robins police officers,” he said, to be “part of the finest law enforcement agency in the Southeast, and I think of the world.” The three new officers are Darren Johnson, Jesse Mettendorf and Brandon Smith. Johnson and Mettendorf are graduates of Houston County High School. Smith is a gradu ate of Warner Robins High School and has been a book ing officer with the city. Walker also presented a certificate from the National Fire Academy to Fire Chief Robert Singletary for his completion of a four-year course. “It’s like the FBI academy for police,” Walker said of the accomplishment. “We’re very proud of him.” at United Health Group. Instead of simply talking about the statistics affecting our young people, we are doing something about this issue by creating new ways to support our future doc tors, researchers, clinicians, said Dr. Tuckson, who is also a former president of a minority academic health university. We have to work hard today to improve the health of our community for tomorrow, and what bet ter way of doing that than encouraging our young peo ple to reach their creer goals and fulfill their dreams. UnitedHealthcare is part nering with media person alities and renowned orga nizations including the Tom Joyner Foundation (www. tomjoyner.com), the Tavis Smiley Foundation (www. y2l.org) and HBCU.com to help provide funding for their respective scholarship programs. LOCAL Warner Robins is purchas ing two replace me n t engines for its unique nat u - ral gas powered heat ing and cooling system for City Hall and the Civic Center. HHJ/Hay Lightner CHOIR From page 1A though the children tour ing the states had shoes, the children back at the orphanage did not - an essential to help keep the disease factor down because of the parasites in the soil and dirt in Africa. So recently, a business man in Columbus pur chased 500 pairs of shoes for the rest of the children at the school. The group arrived in the states on June 1 and will be leaving Aug. 30. During that time, they will be per forming at more than 50 concerts all over Georgia, as well as in Tennessee, Alabama and Florida, said Christina Whitworth, mis sions minister at Mount ■Jj **T Jam fu HE! " * gkiIMHUBM Ugandan Children’s Choir DOOLY From page 1A “The stock sale to Evans should result in a better overall product in a short time and hopefully make Peggy’s job less stressful,” Tribble concluded. The transaction was completed on June 30. This year, UnitedHealthcare launched its African American Health Solutions initiative in select states to help improve the quality of health care cov erage for its members and provide education to the community about ways to reduce their risk for chron ic diseases. In addition, African American Health Solutions is partnering with several Black Chambers of Commerce in designated major cities to fund their existing scholarship pro grams. Ways to Enhance Children’s Activity & Nutrition A 6-session national education program for children ages Bto 13 and their parents or caregivers. Learn how to eat healthy, increase exercise & reduce “screen ” time. Tuesdays and Thursdays July 11,13, 18, 20, 25 & 27 6:30 -7: 30 p.m. Houston Wellness Center 233 N. Houston Road, Suite 135, Warner Robins To sign up, call 923-4567. WELLNESS Cost is 530 P er “y- jSL CBNTTBR -mm.mm****' imm Gilead in Griffin and the Suubi Tour coordinator. “It was just one of those chance meetings years ago on a mission trip,” Whitworth said of Jalia Kayonda, the head mistress of the school and orphanage, explaining what started the process of getting the tour together. “She developed a relationship with us, and over time, we realized that was our focus.” Approximately 569 children attend the Royal Junior School and Orphanage, which is locat ed on a fourth of an acre, according to Whitworth. About half of the children who attend school there live on the grounds at the orphanage and the other half go home. “Half of them at least are orphans,” she said, adding that AIDS and malaria are prevalent all over Africa. FMPLOYMFNT RwSYll 9m,%J I IVILuIU 1 2 days prior at 4pm Pfepiay Ada. PtmdMme. 2 days prior at Noon Call US at 478-987-1823 Fax to: 478-988-9194 or Email to: nicolee<§> evansnewspapers.com ' fWS t _ Cllure** Cheerful Cherubs We offer a Half Day Pre-K Program for 6 months • 4 years Highßead And Zoo-Phorius Curriculum. We encourage each child to develop his or her potential through new experiences including physical, emotional, social, cognitive and spiritual. \ 205 N. Davis Dr. • W.R., GA 31093 • 922-8448 ✓ THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL “AIDS and malaria kills Africa as a whole.” Whitworth said that there are more than a mil lion orphans in Uganda, which is about the size of Georgia. “We’ve been to Alabama and Tennesee, and we’ll go to Florida too,” she said. “These children are multi talented, and we’ve known that for years. (The school has) two or three groups that could tour right now. They all sing and dance and are quick learners.” During the past year, Whitworth said that Mount Gilead bought 30 acres of land in Uganda, and the tour is to raise money to build sufficient facilities for the children on that land. The 50-minute concert is free to the public and will be held Sunday night at 6:30 p.m. at Second Baptist Church in Warner Robins. Awe. Sntttto,. & 'DoftrM,