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Mctwafcm VOLUME 136, NUMBER 193 Below THE Fold: Mid-county group backs McAfee foundation ■ August unemployment rate for Houston County declines Wednesday October 4,2006 The Home Journal’s FRONT PORCH IN SPORTS ■ Perry's Lady Panthers cel ebrated Senior Night by beat ing Central 10-0. Also, look for some Central Georgia Soccer Associations. WR Rec volleyball pictures and more. - See 5A IN BRIEF Georgia DOT to hold bike, trail conference The Georgia DOT is bringing together local officials, planners, engineers, public health profes sionals and community advocates in an effort to improve bicycle and pedestrian facilities in the state's cities and counties. The first Georgia Bicycle & Pedestrian Conference will be held at the Holiday Inn in Decatur Oct. 24-25. Participants will learn how to design bicycle and pedestrian facilities, develop and implement plans and create effective Safe Routes to School programs in their communities. Workshops will also identify and explain the funding sources available for these pro grams. Those interested in attending the conference may register at http:// www.dot.state.ga.us/bikeped/bike_ ped_conf/. Station to speak at Republican breakfast The Republican Breakfast Meeting will be Saturday at 8:30 am. at Sonny's Real Pit BBQ. which is located at 811 Russell Parkway in Warner Robins. The guest speaker will be Sen. Cecil Staton. A continental break fast will be available for $3.25. No reservation is necessary. Ya done good Cadet Zachary T. Willey, son of Keith and Yvonne Willey of Eugene, Oregon. The Houston County High School graduate was recently singled out at West Point for earning the Superintendent's Award for Excellence at the U.S. Miliatary Academy. The award is presented to the top 5 percent of cadets who excel in the academic, military and physi cal programs. BIRTHDAYS Today ■ Elizabeth Newsome, 100! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY Today ■ Edward and Jennifer Rowland DEARLY DEPARTED ■ Nancy Jo Agee, 50 ■ Marian K. Bowers, 89 PERIODICAL 500 8 11001 l 4 Award-Winning Newspaper 2004 Better Newspaper Contest COOI * tVBWSG I WPER PWUECT Man Library UN IV OF GEORGIA ATHENS GA. 30602-0002 3-DIGIT 306 October 4, 2006 St K\i\<, Hots„>s ( oryry Sim Im LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY, city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville ' I tfbisl liir- " Yjl "" qsi jR •jPKB j • • MHMf* . .■wMkwm— j < ■wMggBBSF ■' Ml Joanna McAfee spent half of her six years in a battle with cancer - and lost. Family that lost child works to help others By CHARLOTTE PERKINS Journal Lifestyle Editor It was Mother’s Day, 2004, when 5-year old Joanna McAfee made her way to the top of a hill at the Cancer Survivor’s Park in Tampa, Fla. It wasn’t easy for her, because she was weak from anoth er round of chemother apy, but she was deter mined. When she reached the top, she turned to smile at her parents and hold her arms up trium phantly. Her dad caught the moment with his camera. One way to Help Orders for this tag with a silhouette of Joanna McAfee can be placed starting in January 2007. One thousand must be ordered, however, before the state produces the tag. Proceeds will go to support research and awareness of childhood cancer, as well as support for the families of children with cancer. The pic ture became a silhouette that thousands of people would one day recognize. Six months or so from now, you should Group backs Joanna’s foundation From staff reports Jeff McAfee was the speak er the Sept. 5 meeting of the Bonaire-Kathleen “You Are the Reason we Relay” team, a group of mid-county residents who have held their own fundraisers for several years to take part in the bat tle against cancer. McAfee explained to the group how he, his family and others have launched a foun dation in memory of his and £upportCdftCerKi3s.or£ j Jum moMm Omm his wife Misty’s 6-year old daughter, Joanna. The group learned of the goals of the new foundation and that the Georgia legis lature had passed a bill for a WWW .HHJ NE W S.COM start seeing it on Georgia car tags. Below the tag number, you’ll see a website listed: SupportCancerKids.org. Proceeds from the sale of the tag will go to the Joanna McAfee Childhood Cancer Foundation. It was an idea that became 2006 General Assembly session. Joanna, the daughter of Jeff and See HELP, page jA a real ity because a state rep resentative listened to a grieving father he had never met before, and took action. Rep. Willie Talton of Warner Robins made a special project of sponsoring HB 1053 and made sure the bill for Joanna’s tag got voted on during the special vehicle “Joanna Tag” in support of the Joanna McAfee Childhood Cancer Foundation. Following the talk, the Bonaire-Kathleen team voted unanimously to support the Joanna McAfee Childhood Cancer Foundation. A new name for the team, which is now the Bonaire-Kathleen Connection, was picked. To become a member of See GROUP, page jA Is she the big bad ‘Wolf’? Question on horses, pigs puzzles council By RAY LIGHTNER Journal Staff Writer Can you have horses in Warner Robins? How about a pig? Brenda Wolf had those questions for city officials prior to her family moving in with their two horses and a pot-bellied pig. The answer, according to the city’s legal council, is it’s unclear, and won’t be fully known until - after some research into the matter - the next council meeting, Oct. 15. Assistant City Attorney Stan Martin said accord ing to the Unified Animal Control Ordinance adopt ed by the city last year it’s unlawful to have horses or livestock unless permitted by a city ordinance. Under city zoning ordi nances horses may be kept in the R-l and R-2 zonings if there is a mini mum 20-acre lot for the first animal and another half-acre for each addi tional animal, and as long as the shelter or area is 50 feet from the property line. Councilman Dean Cowart noted the pot-bel lied pig is not considered life stock, but a domestic animal like a dog or cat. The land Wolf has under Submitted Unemployment Warner Robins Area Compared to Georgia raVftnwrllsMMtoM j Warner Robins Area 4.3% j m L——=■=■ J MaawMNwDMJwMMrAai Mw, Jw *, tm mm HOW# nt loW . U>)kui I Hturnmna Oft* August unemployment rate for HC declines By RATLIGHTNER Journal Staff Writer While the unemploy ment rate is down in Houston County, the number of initial unem ployment claims is up for the month of August. The unemployment rate in the metro Warner Robins area declined to 4.3 percent in August, down one-half of one per cent from 4.8 percent in July. The area’s jobless rate was 4.7 percent in August of 2005. The Warner Robins Metro Service Area includes all of Houston County. There were 327 initial unemployment claims in Houston County in August. That is two more or .99 percent more than the 325 in July and 17.2 percent more than the 279 claims in August 2005. Metro Brunswick was the only other service area to have an increase in claims for August with 339, up from 273 in July. While metro. Warner and potatoes and more Food - 1B Two SECTIONS • 14 PAQES JA I s\SS l I'/;/,) 1 "These are our pets. We don't breed them. It's just a nice piece of land we fell in love with." - Brenda Wolf contract is about six acres in the area of Dunbar Road, off Northlake Drive. Only 2.68 acres are in the city and zoned R-2, which is enough to permit the two horses. The rest of the lot, 3.58 acres is in unincor porated Houston County and is zoned Residential- Agricultural which per mits livestock. “Will the horses be kept in the county or the city?” asked Councilman Terry Horton. Wolf showed a map of the site and the proposed location for a barn, on the other side of the pond from the city portion of the land. “These are our pets,” Wolf said of the 19 and 20- year-old horses. “We don’t breed them.” See COUNCIL, page jA Robins had a slight increase with the 327 ini tial unemployment claims in August, only one of the 13 service areas - Hinesville - had fewer ini tial claims in August than metro Warner Robins. The unemployment rate in the metro Macon area declined to 5.9 percent in August, down one-half of one percent from 6.4 per cent in July. The area’s jobless rate was 5.8 percent in August of 2005. The num ber of initial claims also dropped. Metro Macon, which includes Bibb, Crawford, Jones, Monroe and Twiggs counties, had 111 fewer claims than the 1,048 in July. The 937 claims are 4.4 percent lower than the 980 in Aug. 2005. Meanwhile, the state’s unemployment rate declined to 4.6 percent in August, down one-half of one percent from 5.1 per cent in July. The U.S. rate matched the Georgia rate at the 4.6 percent unadjusted See RATE, page jA