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VOLUME 136 , NUMBER 172
Friday
September 1,2006
The Home Journal’s
FRONT
TORCH
IN SPORTS
■ A preview of Perry’s football
matchup with Hawkinsville and
one for today’s battle between
Houston County and Northside.
Also look for Braves, Georgia
and Georgia Tech notebooks.
- See 1B
IN BRIEF
Kingston to speak at
luncheon
Congressman Jack Kingston will
speak at a luncheon hosted by
the Houston County Republican
Committee on Sept. 5 at the
Wellston Room of American's Best
Value Inn, 1440 Watson Blvd.,
Warner Robins.
The lunch will be catered by
Sonny’s Barbecue. Tickets are sl2
per person payable at the door.
Reservations should be made on
or before Sept. 3 by contacting one
of the following: judygddrd@aol.com
or 971-3254; utgrads@cox.net or
328-6435; shirleylenhart@cox.net or
923-7111,
HC landfill to be
closed for holiday
The Houston County Landfill will
be closed Monday for Labor Day,
according to an official from the orga
nization.
Northside sets its
meeting dates
Northside High School has set its
School Council meeting dates. They
are: Sept. 6, Nov. 14, Jan. 16, 2007
and March 15, 2007. All, according
to a release, are slated to begin at
7 a.m.
BIRTHDAYS
Today
■ Patty Rainey
■ Austin Martin
■ Amber Lethco
■ Alan Haynes
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
■ Sarah P. Neal, 70
■ “Sissy” Morath, 23
INDEX
LOCAL 2 A
WEATHER 3 A
OPINION 4 A
COMICS 4 B
CLASSIFIED 5 B
SPORTS 1 B
PERIODICAL 500
S M[li 4
Award-Winning
Newspaper
2004
Better Newspaper
Contest
COOI *
GEORGIA NEWSPAPER PROJECT
Main Library
UN IV OF GEORGIA
ATHENS GA 30602-0002
3-DIGIT 306
September 1, 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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O’Neal
Water shoots straight up about 40 feet from the service line connecting Bill O’Neal’s office with the water main under
Meeting Street.
Workers can! get a break... then again
By CHARLOTTE PERKINS
Journal Staff Writer
If you couldn’t afford a trip to Yellowstone this summer,
just hang out at O’Neal Insurance for a day or two.
You won’t see any bears, but the landscape is rugged in
places and view of the geysers is great.
Yes, they did it again. On Wednesday morning, workers
on the big downtown street project broke through the ser
vice line running from a city water main to Bill O’Neal’s
office across from the Perry United Methodist Church.
Joann Fast looked up from her desk just in time to see
the water shoot straight up into the sky one more time as
workers got soaked or scrambled out of the way.
They got the geyser stopped for a few minutes, and then
it blew again, straight up under one workers shirt.
Then it was just a fine spray, then another blast and the
hard-working, thoroughly soaked and muddy men, got the
repairs done.
For the insurance office however, it meant another
afternoon without running water. This was the third time
in August that pipes have been broken in the process of
rearranging downtown streets and park spaces.
The first break, on Aug. 4, was the biggest by far. That
was when about 2 million gallons of water burst out of an
old capped-off water main after workers removed the old
city fountain for relocation.
The second was a few days later when a service line run
ning from the water main was broken by the road crew.
A big part of the problem, as noted earlier by City
Manager Lee Gilmore, is that the water pipes in the area
under construction were built during the early 1940 s
and there are no maps showing where cut-off valves are
located.
Unemployment
Warner Robins Area Compared to Georgia
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Workers attempt to repair the break.
County uiemptayment
rate UecSnes for July
By RAYLIGHTNER
Journal Staff Writer
Unemployment was down in July from the
previous month in Houston County, even though
initial claims were up.
The unemployment rate in the metro Warner
Robins area declined to 4.8 percent in July,
down two-lOths of one percent from 5 percent
in June, according to the Georgia Department
of Labor. The area’s jobless rate was 5.1 percent
in July of 2005.
The Warner Robins metro service area includes
all of Houston County. The local unemployment
rate is also below the state and national rates,
See RA TE, page 6A
Two sections • 12 pages
Below the
fold
■ County unemploy
ment rate declined for
July
■ Centerville City
Council approves com
pactor, other requests
Meth maker
get 30 years
Acquitted of
murder charges
By RATLIGHTNER
Journal Staff Writer
Jonathan Allen Collins
is going to prison for 15
years on charges stem
ming from the Aug. 9,
2004, explosion that killed
Robert Shane Gilbert.
Assistant District
Attorney George Hartwig
said the jury deliberated
about three hours before
returning a guilty ver
dict on separate counts of
manufacturing metham
phetamine and criminal
attempt to manufacture
methamphetamine. The
jury acquitted Collins on
two counts of felony mur
der that were connected
to the drug counts.
“This case should get
the word out - meth labs
are deadly,” said Hartwig.
“If you’re cooking meth
and somebody gets killed,
you will be prosecuted for
felony murder.”
“This was a difficult
case to prosecute because
of the family relation
ships,” Hartwig said. “I
think the jury took the
See METH, page 6L4
Centerville
approves
agenda items
By JOE SERSEY
Journal Correspondent
Tuesday, Centerville
council members, during
their monthly open coun
cil work session, demon
strated their ability to
deal with rising costs in a
fiscally responsible way,.
The council approved
the purchase of a recy
cling center compactor
for $6,500, $1,500 below
the authorized budget.
Fifteen hundred dollars
may seem a paltry sum
to folks used to govern
mental budgetary excess
es, but as city manager
Patrick Eidson pointed
out, “We have a responsi
bility to our citizens.”
Such savings can mean
a lot considering the
council also had to deal
with increased health
care costs.
“This year, the health
insurance company (Blue
Cross and Blue Shield)
(made a) 10 percent
increase over our bud
get,” Eidson said. “It
could have been worse.
The region average was
(an) 18 percent increase.”
Eidson explained that
part of the discount came
courtesy of lower claims
and other discounts. Still
the total new expenditure
was $18,353.62.
That makes the actions
of municipal leaders
See APPROVES, page 6A