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LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY, city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville VOLUME 136, NUMBER 201 Below the Fold: Governor’s Office of Student Achievement singles out local high schools m Fair sets new attendance record Wednesday October 18,2006 The Home Journal’s FRONT PORCH IN SPORTS ■ Westfield and Deerfield- Windsor both find itself in an unfamiliar position - both need ing to win to keep their play off hopes alive. Also, Houston County's Lady Bear volleyball team wrapped up at least a sec ond seed for the state tourney. Silver Dollar is preparing for its Lucas Oil finale and more. - See 1B IN BRIEF Mossy Creek festival set for weekend The Mossy Creek Barnyard Festival will be Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m„ off Lake Joy Road between Ga. 96 and Langston Road. Signs giving directions are along the way. The festival, now in its 26th year, features original crafts and demon strations of “old-times" skills. More than 150 artisans and performers from 24 states will be at the festival. There will be live music, a petting zoo and festival food from many local clubs and organizations. Tickets are $5 for adults, $1 for children. Parking is free. For more information, visit www.mossycreekfestival.com. Christmas parade date scheduled The 49th Annual Christmas Parade will be held in Warner Robins Dec. 2 at 10 a.m. The parade will begin at the inter section of North Houston Road and Watson Boulevard and proceed east to City Hall. Per a release: "Each year thousands of families attend this much anticipated holiday event which provides a great opportunity for area organizations and business es to gain valuable exposure and show off their community spirit.” There is still time for schools, churches, civic groups, clubs and businesses to participate in this year's parade. Deadline for entry application is Nov. 1. Anyone inter ested in volunteering should con tact the Warner Robins Chamber of Commerce by Nov. 20. For information and an application contact the Chamber at 922-8585. BIRTHDAYS Today ■ Ann Taylor ■ Bobby Jones ANNIVERSARY Oct. 16 ■ Robbie and Torrie Minter DEARLY DEPARTED ■ Lamar Brown, 86 PERIODICAL 500 3il illlif™ 4 Award-Winning Heller Newspaper Contest COOI * GEORGIA NEWSPAPER PROJECT Main Library UN IV OF GEORGIA ATHENS GA 3G602-00G2 3-DfGIT 306 October 18, 2006 Serving Houston Col nty Since 18ZQ From SPLOST to development to gangs, more Political forum offers a bit ol all By JOE SERSEY Journal Correspondent The Informed Citizens United held a polit ical forum Monday night at Fuddruckers in Warner Robins. Formed in June by Houston County resi dents concerned with development abuses, the ICU’s Monday night meeting was set to allow local candidates for state and county positions to meet and debate issues of concern. “We are concerned with a wide variety of issues,” said President David Wittenberg of the 20-member organization. “We don’t believe that SPLOST is appropriate.” Wittenberg says that developers need to pay some of the cost that taxpayers are forced to ante up. “People moving in are demanding hous ing,” he said. “Developers are supplying that demand and profiting handsomely.” He pointed out that three of five Houston County commissioners are also members of the boards of banks who loan money to developers. feyl » JET'S / 1 9 Brl Governor’s office singles out local high schools Special to the Journal All four high schools in Houston County made significant strides in SAT scores and have been recognized by the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement. Houston County High received the 2006 SAT Region Winner’s Trophy for Class AAAAA and Region 1-AAAAA. www.hhjnews.com "Our elected officials divided and conquered. The developers lead and we follow with our SPLOST dollars." - Informed Citizens United member “To our minds this brings the possibility of conflict of interest,” Wittenberg said, “whether it has occurred or not.” He was quick to point out that neither he nor his organization is accusing anyone of improprieties. His concern was about perception. During the meeting, ICU members brought up current commissioner Jay Walker’s motion before the commission at the December 2005 meeting for an ad valo rum tax to pay the principal and interest See FORUM, page 6A Northside High and Perry High were both recognized for making at least a 10-point gain. Warner Robins High had the highest scores in' its region, 3-AAA. Houston County High was recog nized as one of 35 high schools in Georgia with the largest numerical improvement in SAT scores in their WR police seeking robbery suspects Make arrest in Westwood burglary By RAY LIGHTNER Journal Staff Writer Warner Robins police are investigating two armed robberies that occurred in the past couple of days. One is the robbery of a woman outside the night depository Monday night, while the other is a home invasion that took place early Tuesday morning on Arnold Street. At 9:03 p.m., officers of the Warner Robins Police Department responded to the Wachovia Bank, 1205 Watson Blvd., concerning an armed robbery. The vic- region. The school was awarded a Regional Champion Trophy and SI,OOO grant for an average gain of 25 points on the SAT verbal and mathematics portions between 2004 and 2006. Houston County High students improved their SAT scores by 30 See SCHOOLS, page 6A Three sections • 18 pages A FAULKNER ness and produced a hand gun. He demanded the vic tim relinquish her deposit bag, to which she complied. The suspect then fled the area - last seen running toward Meadowdale Drive. There were no injuries See SUSPECTS, page 6B An old flame ABOVE: Justin and Nash Donnelly of Warner Robins check out a sweet ride during the Wings and Wheels car show held Saturday at the Museum of Aviation. LEFT: Jacob and Taylor Ross admire a custom Camaro. For more, see 6A. ENI Gary Harmon an Evans Family New seam. k\ tim told police she exited her vehicle and approached the night deposit box when a black male stepped out of the dark- City votes to lower taxes By RAY LIGHTNER Journal Staff Writer Warner Robins has low ered the tax rate for its residents. The city council voted unanimously to set the millage rate at 9.257 mills for 2006, down from 9.9 mills in 2005. “This is the 12th year in a row we’ve lowered the rate,” said Mayor Donald Walker. The city portion of a tax bill on a SIOO,OOO home, not including homestead or other exemptions, will be about $370.28, or about $26 less than last year, if the value of the house remained the same. This does not include the county and school millage. With those, the tax bill on a SIOO,OOO home in the city would be about $1,290. The city council also approved the tax error and release list, which corrects mistakes by the board of equalization on value of properties in the city. City Clerk Carolyn Robbins said a majority of the $24,043 in correc tions were errors from See TAXES, page 6A Fair sets new record By RAY LIGHTNER Journal Staff Writer A record 431,499 fair goers attended the 17th annual, state-sponsored Georgia National Fair in Perry, Oct. 5-15. 11 ’ s the fifth straightyear that the attendance record at the Georgia National Fair has been broken, said Michelle Treptow, director of communi cations for the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter. Several fac tors contributed to this success, Treptow said, “the beautiful fall weath er, school fall breaks for several counties, Sneak a-Peek, lower gas prices, and the best Fair pro grams.” This year, an additional 30,884 people raised the attendance by 8 percent See RECORD, page 6A