Newspaper Page Text
Mawsimt Jbttlg Soiwift
VOLUME 136, NUMBER 163
Weekend
August 19, 2006
The Home Journal’s
FRONT
PORCH
INSIDE
■ In Sports today: Northside
explores its QB options, Warner
Robins scrimmages Peach
County, Perry's softball team
improves to 2-0, several golf
articles featuring local golfers
and Georgia. Georgia Tech and
Braves notebooks, along with
news from NASCAR.
- See 1B
IN BRIEF
Red Cross blood drive
coming to Perry
An American Red Cross blood
drive will be held at First Baptist
Church-Perry located at 1105 Main
Street, Room 223, Aug. 23. It is slated
to be held from 3:30-7:45 p.m.
Feagin Mill Middle
sets meeting dates
Feagin Mill Middle School has
announced its School Council meet
ing schedule. In addition to this past
Wednesday, they are: Sept. 6, Nov.
8, Jan. 10,2007, March 14,2007 and
May 9, 2007. Meetings, according to
a release, will be held at 7 a.m. in the
Feagin Mill Media Center.
Kudos
Robins Federal Credit Union helped
collect more than 5,000 pounds of
school supplies during its Operation
Back to School campaign July 17-29.
The supplies, according to a release,
were then give to underprivileged
students in Central Georgia.
BIRTHDAYS
Today
■ Cory Lones
■ Terry Lones
■ Debbie Bennett
■ Jackie Thames
■ Emily Montgomery 19
■ Calvin Monroe, 15
Sunday
■ Hulda Cook
■ Ricky Hawk
Monday
■ Stephanie Blackmon
■ Tony Mangual
■ Johnnie Mae Ross
■ Jentavious Johnson
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.
INDEX
LOCAL 2 A
WEATHER 3 A
OPINION 4 A
SPORTS 1 B
COMICS 4 B
CLASSIFIED 5 B
LIFESTYLE 1C
PERIODICAL 500
lllllllllivilllli
8 "5 510 8 0 0001*4
Award-Winning
Newspaper
2004
Better Newspaper
Contest
ittllailatialittlitiiif iiil!>»H»illifiii!iStfa>!l
com *
GEORGIA NEWSPAPER PROJECT
Man Litxarv
UNfV OF GEORGIA
A If— W l /** A
/•* < ijf
3-OIC3T m
August 19, 2006
.......... ...... . ' — l — . .......
LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY,
city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville
Rape suspect charged with murder
By ILiY LIGHTNER
Journal Staff Writer
Erik Stephen Mize, already
in jail and accused of rape,
was charged Thursday with
the Aug. 1 murder of Felicia
Hardman.
Warner Robins Police
Department Criminal
Investigations Division’s Sgt.
Chris Rooks said Thursday
investigators felt their sus
pect was a person who knew
THE
LONGEST YARDS
Tighter security makes courthouse walk a literal pain for
the ailing, but help is on the way
HH BN £9
idJftP KrH 1
ML Mp ' ' M
ffl *
ENI/Gary Harmon
The walk to the courthouse entrance, due to tighter security restraints, has become quite the pain for those with
medical problems. Their cries - perhaps literally - have been heard by officials, who said they plan to take action to
to fix the problem.
By CHARLOTTE PERKINS
Journal Staff Writer
If you're handicapped
and have business at the
Houston County court
house, you might want
to wait about a month
before taking the trip.
Betty Hancock wasn’t ask
ing for much on her recent
visit to the Houston County
Courthouse.
She just wanted to get out
of her friend’s car at the front
door, instead of pounding the
pavement for the full length of
the covered walkway from the
parking lot to the entrance.
She’s 78, recently had knee
replacement surgery, and is
Gingrich visits Houston
By CHARLOTTE
PERKINS
Journal Staffs Writer
Former House Speaker
Newt Gingrich was an artful
dodger when asked about
his own political plans on
Thursday, but his endorse
ment of an old colleague,
Mac Collins, for the Bth
District post in the U.S.
House of Representatives,
was unequivocal.
Regarding Collins, he said
that electing conservative
Republicans for Congress is
“central to the survival of
our country,” and said that
the race between Collins and
incumbent Democrat, Rep.
Jim Marshall, is important
because Marshall, if elect
ed, will vote for Rep. Nancy
Pelosi of San Francisco, for
www.hhjnews.com
the vic
tim. “His
name had
surfaced,”
Rooks
said, dur
ing inter
views with
Hardman’s
acquain
tances. “We
MIZE
were able to identify him
as a suspect. He knew her
well.”
temporarily using a walker.
Although there’s a driveway
that would have taken her to
a point closer to the door, the
road was blocked, and she had
to take the walk, which is about
200 feet.
“Yes, it hurt,” he said, “and it
hurt my shoulder, too, because
I have to bend over to use the
walker.”
Hancock said that on earlier
trips to the courthouse, those
driving her had been able to
enter the circular drive in the
area between the courthouse
and the jail and to let her out
near the front door.
The circular drive is likely to
remain blocked off, but help is
Speaker of the House.
Gingrich likened the cur
rent world situation to
“World War III”, saying that
he was worried that a global
threat similar to that which
rose between 1935 and 1940,
was emerging, and “There
is an element that wants to
hide from it.”
He claimed that the
approach of Democrats would
be “weakness, appeasement
and surrender.”
In regard to the much-dis
cussed possibility of his mak
ing a bid for the Republican
nomination for the presiden
cy, Gingrich said, “We’ll look
at in September of ’07,” and
spoke instead about the dia
betes and obesity program
he is currently working
See VISITS, page $A
"His name had surfaced. We were able
to identify him as a suspect. He knew
her well."
- Warner Robins Police Sgt. Chris Rooks
Rooks said that Mize and
Hardman “were friends.
He was over visiting and at
some point they got into a
confrontation.”
on the way for those who find
the long walk difficult.
According to County
Commission Chairman Ned
Sanders, the driveway, which
was primarily designed to pro
vide fire and emergency access
to the jail and courthouse, was
recently blocked off due to a
tightening of security regula
tions, both from Homeland
Security and in relation to the
tragic shootings at the Fulton
County Courthouse last year.
Sanders said that one reason
benches were placed along the
long walkway earlier was to
provide resting places for those
who found the walk tiring.
See LONGEST, page 6A
■ ■ "■■Hr
■' " fnl 9
ENI/Gary Harmon
Newt Gingrich, left, endorses candidate Mac Collins for the U.S. House of Representatives
during Gingrich’s visit Thursday.
Three sections • 20 pages
On Aug. 1, at approximate
ly 1:43 p.m., officers with
the Warner Robins Police
Department responded
See MURDER, page 6A
How one man want from Harley*
to hamburger*
LIFESTYLE-1C
Below the
FOLD
■ Newt Gingrich visits
Houston County
■ Driver flees Perry
police; crashes
Molester
found,
arrested
By RAY LIGHTNER
Journal Staff Writer
Dexter Torino Owens
was convicted of child
molesta
tion on
Dec. 18,
1996, in
Houston
County.
He was
listed
as an
abscond
er on the
Georgia
|»i|3SSgp|pi
w'i'j.
OWENS
Bureau of Investigations
sex offender registry. Sgt.
Charlene Giles of the
Houston County Sheriffs
Office took out the war
rant for his arrest on July
27 after a failed attempt
to verify Owens’ resi
dence, as required as part
of his probation.
Owens was back in jail
Thursday on charges of
violation of probation
from Superior Court
on the original charge
of child molestation
and registration of sex
See MOLESTER, page $A
Perry police
in hot pursuit
By RAY LIGHTNER
Journal Staff Writer
A 20-minute high
speed police chase began
in Perry
and
ended in
Cordele
with the
car going
airborne
off the
north
bound
ramp and
GALVIN
landing
50 feet below the over
pass.
According to Perry
Police Capt. Bill Phelps,
officer John Kessler
observed a Honda Accord
in the southbound
lane with expired tags
See PURSUIT, page fA