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lious&m IlaibSJknimal VOLUME 136 , NUMBER 140 Thursday July 20, 2006 The Home Journal’s FRONT PORCH INSIDE ■ Warner Robins High School finished 18th overall in the Georgia Athletic Directors Association Dodge Directors Cup, a measure of the school’s athletic programs, while Houston County finished 23rd. Also, the Warner Robins American Little League continues its tradition of winning titles. - See 1B IN BRIEF Lane closure ■ The Georgia Department of Transportation has closed one right lane of I-75 through today for resurfacing. The location of the closure begins 1.5 miles north of exit 138 (SR 11 Connector/North Perry Parkway) in the northbound lanes. Work is scheduled to begin each evening at 7 p.m. and end at 5 a.m. The DOT is urging all motorists to '‘exercise extreme caution in the work areas due to the per sonnel and equipment on site.” All necessary signs, barrels, and cones will be in place to alert motorists of the construction. Byron yard sale Byron Better Hometown is' sponsoring a community wide yard sale Aug. 5 from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. According to a release from the organization, there is no charge to set up. Locations available include By ron United Methodist Church parking lot and the parking lots at the old school on the corner of Main Street and Moseley Road. Call 478-956-5555 for more infor mation. BIRTHDAYS Tuesday ■ Lyndie Thomas Today ■ Mark Kushinka E-mail your birthdays to: hhjnews@evansnewspapers. com or send them to: 1210 Washington St., Perry 31069; attn: Don Moncrief. DEATHS ■ Dorothy Nell Eggler INDEX LOCAL . . .2 A WEATHER 3 A OPINION 4 A LIFESTYLE....... 1C SPORTS 1 B COMICS 4 B CLASSIFIEDS .... 5 B PERIODICAL 50$ ..IPJJi 11| Award-Winning Newspaper 2004 Better Newspaper Contest iiiiliii..iiti„lliiiiiiiilii.illi„li l ii„lill.i l |l CQOI * GEORGIA NEWSPAPER PROJECT Main Library GNIV OF GEORGIA ATHENS GA 30602-0002 3-DIGIT 306 July 19, 2006 LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY, city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville Centerville holds its liquor, taxes, too Postpones vote on both until 2007 By KIMBERLY CASSEL PRITCHETT HHJ Contributing Writer Centerville residents will have quite a while to contemplate wheth er or not seniors age 70 and over should be exempt from property taxes and whether or not the sale of alcohol by the drink should be allowed on Sundays. In the regular Tuesday night work Local voting ’Pllfllffi. 'mL' **’ Ilf; JmHH WWk ‘ HR If j,') \ | ENI/Gary Harmon Jane and Skeet Hulbert, along with their son Matthew sign up to vote Tuesday at Perry Primary School. Assisting them at right is pollworker Catherine Ingram. Perdue, Collins and Walker pick up wins; some maverick voting in other races Editor's Note: For pre cinct votes in Houston County see page 108. By CHARLOTTE PERKINS Journal Staff Writer The voter turnout was nothing to brag about, with only 19.2 percent of Houston County’s 55,995 registered voters turning out, bragging rights still went to native son, Gov. Sonny Perdue, who pulled in 5,722 votes PY debates impact fees for some By KRISTY WARREN Journal Staff Writer Perry City Council is look ing into impact fees to offset the price of development. At Tuesday night’s work session, the city council agreed to seek proposals from consulting firms to look at the possibility of charging fees which would in turn be used for a new fire station and park construction. WWW.HHJNEWS.COM session, Centerville Council decided not to hold a special election for the two referendums pertaining to taxes and alcohol. Instead, they decided to put it on the November 2007 ballot. “This gives us a long time to do whatever we need to do,” Mayor Harold M. Edwards Jr. said, adding that it won’t cost the city any addi tional funds. During the discussion of the issue, locally against challenger Ray Mcßerry’s 485. Perdue who had a land slide statewide against a long shot opponent, will now square off against one of his longstanding adversaries, Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, who won the Democratic Primary. That decision will be made by voters in the general elec tion in November. Perdue will be in Perry Aug. 5 for a major rally in the Miller- According to City Manager Lee Gilmour, due to the hefty rules and regulations associated with impact fees, these projects were chosen because they are the easiest to implement. A state plan has been established for fire stations and the master plan is already in existence for a park. “Because of the meth odology and state law ’This gives us a long Ume to do whatever we need to do.' - Centerville Mayor Harold Edwards Jr., on postponement of a vote on property taxes on seniors age 70 and above as well as alcohol sales on Sunday the idea of putting the referendum to the public vote in a special elec tion this November was knocked Murphy-Howard building at the Georgia National Fairgrounds. Jay Walker, the only Houston County Commissioner facing a pri mary challenge, won his party’s nomination handily, with 4,363 votes to Wayne Overholt’s 1,582. Walker will now face Democrat Maurice Braswell in the general election. See RACES, page 5A requirements, the city wanted experts,” Gilmour explained. The regulations take into consideration benefits for: New development, time frame, and the formula for charging the fee. Impact fees cannot fund the development of facilities that exceed cur rent services, Gilmour said. “For example,” said See FEES, page 5A TWO SECTIONS • 20 PAQES Below the fold ■ Hospital presents its expansion plans ■ Perry considers impact fees for developers County says no Gooch-y coochy By RAY LIGHTNER Journal Staff Writer There will not be a bar at the old Montessori school on Dunbar Road. “The only reason is loca tion,” Commissioner Tom McMichael told Charlie Gooch during the County Commission meeting Tuesday. “It’s a poor loca tion to put it in.” Gooch, from Taylor County, had requested a beer, wine and liquor pour ing license to put a tavern at 501 Dunbar Road. The building was pre viously the Rainbow Montessori School and still has playground equipment. Gooch said the fenced in playground area would have been used for parking for his tavern. The commissioners’ con cern was the proximity of residences to the site. McMicheal noted there is a mobile home park adjacent to the property with four to six of the trailers backing up to the property. “The real problem is consump tion next to residences,” McMichael said. “People are 10-feet from the property line,” added Commissioner Jay Walker. Walker made the motion to deny the request, which McMichael seconded and the commission unani mously approved. Hospital presents its expansion plan By RAY LIGHTNER Journal Staff Writer Houston Medical Center’s long-range plans include more than $250 million in expansion, reno vation and replacement. It includes three four-story bed or office towers and a new energy plant as well as expansion of the Women’s Center and a new entrance along Watson Boulevard. Architect Robert Farrow, senior vice president of HKS, the firm contracted to design the project, pre sented the multi-phase project to Warner Robins city officials Tuesday. Phase 1 includes a bed tower and new energy plant, which is in the design phase now. The city council approved a zoning request for three parcels of land totaling down by council. A special elec tion would cost the city more than SI,OOO and would require voters to go to two separate polling places - one for the vote for governor and one for the referendum. “I don’t want to spend money in a non-election year,” Councilman Cameron Andrews said, adding that he thought it would “make people mad” to have to go to two places to vote. Councilman Randall Wright See HOLDS, page 10A McMichael told Gooch, “come back with another location and I’ll be glad to make the motion to approve it.” The commissioners did, however, vote unanimously to approve a package liquor store in Bonaire. County Administrator Steve Engle told the board the request from Minaxi Patel for beer, wine and liquor sales at 351 A Highway 247 South, meets the minimum dis tance requirements from schools, churches and resi dences. Commissioner Larry Thomson made the motion to approve the request, which McMichael second ed. “There’s no consumption on premises,” McMichael said, “it’s strictly pack age.” The new building under construction will be called Bob’s Package Store. The commission also approved the purchase of a second scale at the county landfill and a canopy to cover it. “It’s something we needed and was budgeted for, McMichael said, “to avoid a head-on collision.” He explained that cus tomers - residents and haulers - currently have to go in and out over the same scale. See NO, page 5A 1.53 acres along Briarcliff Road, for part of that on Monday. That is where the energy plant will be locat ed with an underground tunnel connecting it to the hospital. Art Christie from the Houston Medical Center noted the energy plant will replace a lot of older parts in the hospital. The existing plant is located in the basement and will be decommissioned, once the new one is in place. By 2010 most of the old buildings will have been demolished, Farrow said. The 102-bed bed tower will have four stories and a basement, with the mechanical portion in the basement. The new lobby and a See PLAN, page 5A