Newspaper Page Text
VOLUME 136, NUMBER 147
Friday
July 28, 2006
The Home Journal’s
FRONT
PORCH
INSIDE
■ Warner Robins American Little
League’s 11-12-year-olds rolled
past Oconee American and into
the semifinals of the state play
offs.
The International City Warriors
have their own version of col
lege star Reggie Bush - Donovan
Kendrick, or “Little Bush,” as he’s
called, former Perry Panther and
Middle Georgia Stallion standout.
- See 1B
IN BRIEF
Byron yard sale
Byron Better Hometown is sponsor
ing 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 Byron
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 information.
Ya done good
Lisa Sweat of Elko, daughter of
Ronald and Wanda. She was named
to the Dean's List of Emory College
for the spring semester.
Correction
Derrell Lester, 33, not Sirad Little,
was arrested Friday on a Superior
Court bench warrant for sale of
cocaine. It was Lester, not Little, who
was arrested at the courthouse at a
child support hearing.
According to Perry Police's Det.
Drew Dodson, who provided the origi
nal information, Little turned himself
in on July 9 to the Houston County
Detention Center on a Superior Court
bench warrant for sale of cocaine,
two counts.
BIRTHDAYS
Today
■ Jonathan Scruggs, 9
■ David Loudermilk
■ Amanda Kozak
E-mail your birthdays to:
hhj@evansnewspapers.com or
donm@evansnewspapers.com or
send them to: 1210 Washington
St., Perry 31069; attn: Don
Moncrief. You can also call him at
987-1823, Ext. 231.
DEARLY DEPARTED
■ Arlette L. Lumb
■ Emily Davis
■ Kamiya Marie Ibrahim
INDEX
LOCAL 2 A
WEATHER 3 A
OPINION 4 A
SPORTS 1 B
COMICS 4 B
CLASSIFIEDS .... 5 B
PERIODICAL 500
IllllHWllHWl
B™s 510 80 0 0 01 B 4
Award-Winning
Better Newspaper VjgcSttV
Contest
COOI *
GEORGIA NEWSPAPER PROJECT
Man Library
(JNIV OF GEORGIA
ATHENS GA 306Q2-GCC2
3-DfGJT 306
July 19, 2006
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LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY,
city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville
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Perry Downtown Development
Authority hopes Qity Council win
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By CHARLOTTE PERKINS
Journal Staff Writer
Back in the 19705, Lewis Meeks was chairman of the Perry
: Development Authority and McKinley was mayor of Perry.
That was when the downtown merchants saw a need for off-street
parking and agreed to help pay for it by becoming a special tax dis
i trict. The city purchased land at the corner of Ball and Commerce
j Streets at a cost,of,. $50,750, and ddwntown property owners,
through a 20-yeas special tax repaid the City of Perry $42,000 of
f . that amount. * , • . .
L Now, almost 30 years later, Downtown . Development Authority
•leaders hope that the Perry City Council will agree to sign over the
_~datflto the land to the DDA, not just because downtown merchants
paicfextra taxes to buy it; but also because, as onef>DAmember
puts it, “We can get more bang for the bucks."
They hope to sell it a major retailer and use the proceeds to begin
an ambitious long-range project that will make downtown Perry an
attractive new entrance with plenty of parking close to shops, as
well as new landscaping and a pavilion.
See DEED, page 2A
About the background picture - If the DDA’s plan for revitalizing
Commerce Street goes through, this lot at the comer of Ball and
Commerce Street would be sold, but the tree would be saved, and the
gazebo would be moved to Big Indian Creek.
ENI/Gary Harmon
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Pannell now
faces gun
trafficking
By RAY LIGHTNER
Journal Staff Writer
Richard Ivanhoe Pannell
Jr. has been indicted on gun
trafficking charges in fed
eral court.
According to G.F.
Peterman 111, acting United
States Attorney, Middle
District of Georgia, Pannell,
25, of Fort Valley, was indict
ed July 20 with an unidenti
fied accomplice making five
straw purchases and provid
ing the funds to purchase
the firearms.
He is charged with con
spiracy, Peterman said, and
if found guilty faces a maxi
mum sentence of five years
in federal prison, with no
parole, a maximum fine of
$25,000 or both, a term of
supervised release of three
years and a SIOO mandatory
assessment fee.
Pannell pled guilty June
30 to shooting his girlfriend
in the head June 23. But he
later filed a motion to with
draw his plea.
In the motion to withdraw,
District Attorney Kelly
Burke said, Pannell claims
he didn’t understand what
he was doing when he pled
guilty.
Superior Court
See GUN, page 5A
www.hhjnews.com
Help for the homeless
Chamber group seeks donations for new shelter
By CHARLOTTE PERKINS
Journal Staff Writer
Think what it costs to
furnish a home.
Now think what it costs
to furnish a home for eight
women and their children,
who are coming from home
lessness into safe shelter.
Members of the 2006
Leadership Class of the
Warner Robins Chamber of
Commerce need your help
in order to help others.
They are hosting a house
warming on Saturday to
benefit homeless women
and their children.
Donations are being
sought for the Community
Outreach Service Center,
Inc., a new local shelter
for homeless women and
children. The housewarm
ing will be a drop-in event
from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at
the shelter, which is located
at 404 Duke Avenue.
The COSC is opening a
shelter to meet the needs of
the community’s homeless
women and their children.
The facility will accommo
date eight women and their
children.
The shelter is registered
for gifts at Target and
Wal-Mart under the name,
Community Outreach
Service Center.
See SEEKS, page 6A
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ENI/Gary Harmon
From left, Monica Deßiase, Karen Fowler, Jessica Blackwell, Aura Lee Durham,
Michelle Siniard and Skip Holmes sort supplies. The group, members of the 2006
Leadership Class of the Warner Robins Chamber of Commerce, are helping furnish a
home for homeless women and their children.
Two sections • 12 pages
Below the fold
■ Warner Robins Chamber of Commerce seeks
donations for new shelter
■ Murderer now faces gun trafficking charges
Centerville nerrows
its dewntown vision
By KIMBERLY CASSEL PRITCHETT
Journal Correspondent
The Centerville Downtown Development Authority
and the Centerville Council came to a meeting of the
minds Tuesday when they sat down and discussed
their ideas about what
area they expected
the downtown area to
encompass.
The meeting closed
with the idea that coun
cil will need to adopt a
resolution at their next
meeting amending the
DDA’s original delin
eation of a downtown
area.
According to City
Administrator Patrick
Eidson, the original
delineation encom
passed the corner of
Watson to the Margie
Drive extension to
Bassett Road to Waterland Lane and back down the
east and west sides of Houston Lake Road and out
Gunn Road.
After a nearly two-hour long meeting, the newly
identified area was scaled down sizably from encom
passing more than a third of the city. It is now expect
ed to extend to Bassett and Davis Drive, which will
include the area where city hall and the library sits.
DDA Chairperson Henry Hopson Jr. said that as the
DDA moved further along in the planning process,
they realized that the downtown area needed to be
expanded.
This gives us a bigger area to work with,” he said, "f
think the area is vacant now - that’s positive. It gives
us a good starting point, too.”
During the meeting, the Centerville mayor Harold
Edwards expressed that he envisioned stores with
townhouses on top and an area where people could
walk on sidewalks where they wanted to go. He said
he would like to see sidewalks “come up to the front
of the store.”
“There’s nothing like that around here that equates
to that,” he said, later adding that it “takes a devloper
that catches that same vision.”
“The vision should be one that captures what’s liv
ing here - a lot of seniors and a lot of young families
with children,” he stated, explaining that there is
growth at both ends of the spectrum. “I really do
See VISION, page 5A
t v Ev \.\s Family Newspaper
’The vision should
be one that
captures what's
living here - a lot
of seniors and a lot
of young famines
with children.'
- Centerville mayor Harold
Edwards