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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 \swvixc; i/()Vsn)\ Cm r \n Si\( i: 1870 LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY, city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville & m :v *• 1 ' 1 1 r' ___ - Perry Downtown Development Authority hopes Qity Council win jrr '£ ■ i isigri oferlanti 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 mi I fmir Hu-ojrnMf, 1 L it. tl- <Vft 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 v. IJL ftfcjg fire"r; ■-a" **"’T , 1 |mt' c t - i s ia» " v ,i: * 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