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HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL Huu&iuu Paiiy .^uunuii Perry Office 1210 Washington St. P.O. Box 1910 Perry, QA 31009 (478) 987-1823 See us online at www.hhjnews.com Reader □GOlf® Classified Advertising: Call (478) 987-1823 between the hours of 8 am and 5 pm Monday through Friday. You can fax an ad 24 hours a day to (478) 988-9194. Display Advertising: Call Nicole Crofutt at ext. 224. Delivery by mail: Delivery by mail is available for $62 in-county and SB2 elsewhere per year paid in advance POSTMASTER Send address changes to: P.O. Box 1910. Perry. GA 31069 The Houston Home Journal, A peri odical. mailed (ISSN 1526-7393) at Perry, Ga„ is published Tuesday through Saturday for $62 per year by Evans Newspapers Inc., 1210 Washington St.. Perry, GA31069; (478) 987-1823 Fax (478) 988-1181. Not published Thanksgiving and Christmas. Office Hours: The office in Perry is open from 8 a m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday NEWS TIPS: Call (478) 987-1823 ext, 231 Newsroom Fax: (478) 988-1181 Presentation editor: Contact James Tidwell at jtidwell @ evansnewspapers.com Corrections: The HDJ strives for fairness and accuracy, and will print a correction or clarification when one is in order. Call ext. 231. Advertising errors and omissions: The advertiser agrees that the pub lisher shall not be liable for damages arising from errors in advertisements beyond the amount paid for the space actually occupied by that portion of the advertisement in which the error occurred. There shall be no liability for non-insertion of any advertisement beyond the amount paid for such advertisement. This newspaper is a member of The Georgia Press Association, The National Newspaper Association and The Associated Press State Briefs Perdue maintains lead over Taylor ATLANTA (MNS) - Sonny Perdue’s re-election band wagon may have hit a speed bump, according to the lat est statewide poll. An Insider Advantage sur vey released Monday said the Republican incumbent has a 20-percentage-point lead over Democratic Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor. But the governor’s back ing slipped six points compared to an earlier Insider Advantage poll. And at 48 percent, it’s less than the 50 percent he needs to avoid a runoff. Meanwhile the undecided bloc has almost doubled - from 8 to 15 percent - while Libertarian Garrett Hayes has 9 percent. Poll director Matt Towery attributed the Perdue dip to a Taylor TV ad blitz slam ming Perdue for his contro versial Florida land deal and tax break. “Taylor’s strategy of bring ing the governor down is working,” Towery said. But he added that Taylor’s support, which also slipped two percentage points - to 28 percent - remains weak. Merle Black, a professor of political science at Emory University, agreed. “It still looks pretty bad for Taylor,” Black said. And many undecided vot ers likely will end up not going to the polls, which would make it easier for Perdue to crash the 50 per cent barrier, he said. Perdue spokesman Derrick Dickey said all recent polls show the governor up by at least 20 points and that’s why Taylor’s resort ing to “desperate, negative attacks.” Taylor spokesman Rick Dent had no comment on the poll. YOUR WEATHER TEAM! ■msscn MGT Today's Weather IL^jcalMDa^Forecast Thu Frl Sat Sun Mon 10/19 10/20 , 10/21 10/22 10/23 <, *.*•* •*, • /-•j: ■' 1 J 85/56 73/44 73/52 74/45 72/44 Isolated thunder- Abundant sunshine Abundant sunshine. Cloudy with showers Clouds giving way to storms. Highs in the Highs in the low 70s Highs in the low 70s and thunderstorms., sun . Highs in the mid 80s and lows in and lows in the mid and lows in the low low 70s and lows in the mid 50s. 40s. 50s. the mid 40s. Sunrise Sunset Sunrise Sunset Sunrise Sunset Sunrise Sunset Sunrise Sunset 7:42 AM 6:58 PM 7:43 AM 657 PM 7:44 AM 6.56 PM 7:45 AM 6:55 PM 745 AM 654 PM [ LOOKS LIKE HOMEMADE. ; TASTES LIKE HOMEMADE." Georgia At A Glance \ y \ \ Atlanta m \ \ 80/52 V. Augusta \ / 86/63 \ { \ *4^ \ Warner Robins \ \ 86/56 ( V V, V *; \ Savannah —i • / , l Perry V 86/63 / 86/56 Cf ) Y l Valdosta <n \jJ —. 88/63 Area Cities jCity Ut Lomond | Albany 88 60 pt sunny Athens 82 54 rain Atlanta 80 52 rain Augusta 86 63 cloudy Bainbridge 89 62 pt sunny Brunswick 85 67 pt sunny Cartersville 79 49 rain Chattanooga.TN 65 44 rain Columbus 8/ 57 t-storm Cordele 88 60 pt sunny National Cities | City Hi LoCond. | Atlanta 80 52 rain Boston 65 56 cloudy Chicago 49 33 rain Dallas 67 48 sunny Denver 53 35 pt sunny ©2005 American Profile Hometown Content Arson suspected in Henry office fire ATLANTA (AP) - Arson is suspected in a fire that did heavy damage to a pro bation office early Tuesday in McDonough, authorities said. The fire broke out shortly before 2 a.m. in the single story, temporary building at the courthouse complex. No injuries were reported. Firefighters quickly doused the flames. Steve Morgan, a McDonough fire investigator, said someone used a brick to break a window, then set fire to papers on a desk. “It looks like they target ed the probation building,” Morgan said. “We do have court today, and it deals with probationers, but (the fire) will not stop court from hap pening.” Morgan said probation files were not damaged and computers are backed up daily to a main server in a different building. “Maybe someone thought they would do damage and wouldn’t have to go to court today, or maybe evidence would be destroyed and their name wouldn’t exist anymore,” Morgan said. He said a reward would be offered for information lead ing to an arson arrest. Escape unnoticed until capture AUGUSTA (MNS) - A federal inmate who fled the Lincoln County jail Sunday was free more than half a day before officials got a call telling them he was in cus tody in Columbia County. Terry Carter Jr., 22, of Augusta, was able to climb over a security fence and escape the jail undetected at about 12:30 p.m., accord ing to a news release from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office. “There apparently was a STATE AND REGION Meteorologist Jerry Mathowson Turn* far Nm* Icily Mi Lo Conti. Dalton 75 47 rain Dillard 78 48 rain Dublin 89 57 cloudy Duluth 80 50 rain Gainesville 81 53 rain Helen 79 49 rain Lagrange 80 51 t-storm Macon 86 55 rain Marietta 80 49 rain Milledgeville 86 57 rain loty Houston 74 54 rain Los Angeles 79 58 mst sunny Miami 87 78 pt sunny Minneapolis 48 32 mst sunny New York 69 58 pt sunny Service breakdown somewhere with him being gone that long,” said Sheriff Gerald Lawson. His department learned that Carter was missing at about 2:40 a.m. Monday when Columbia County dep uties called, the sheriff said. Columbia County sher iffs Capt. Steve Morris said Carter was seen at about 9 p.m. at the TPS convenience store at Washington Road and William Few Parkway, where he stayed about four hours. The store clerk called police at about 1 a.m. Monday after an anonymous phone call warned her the man was an escaped inmate, according to a Columbia County sheriff s incident report. When deputies arrived, they saw Carter run into nearby woods. He was later found by tracking dogs about 1,000 feet from the store. Lawyers ask judge for new letters ATLANTA (AP) - Lawyers opposing Georgia’s photo ID law asked a judge Monday to hold the state in contempt for misinforming more than 200,000 voters in a mass mailing that was sent after a court order blocked the law’s enforcement for the November general election. Attorneys are also asking the judge to force the state to send new letters to those voters. In all, the State election board mailed more than 300,000 letters to' registered voters, telling them they may need to show either a free Georgia voter identifica tion card or one of six forms of photo ID to vote in person. The letter also reminded vot ers they could vote absentee without a photo ID. Originally, State Election Board Vice Chair Claud “Tex” Mclver said the agen cy mailed 20,000 of those letters after the Sept. 19 rul- Moon Phases # • Last New Oct 14 Oct 22 % <b First Full Oct 29 Nov 5 UV Index Thu 10/19 5 Moderate Fri 10/20 6 High Sat 10/21 6 High Sun 10/22 5 Moderate Mon 10/23 6 High The UV Index is measured on a 0-11 number scale, with a higher UV Index showing the need for greater skin pro tection 0 jUPW 11 jetty HI Lomond. | Peachtree City 81 49 rain Perry 86 56 t-storm Rome 78 47 rain Savannah 88 63 pt sunny St. Simons Islandßs 67 pt sunny Statesboro 92 64 pt sunny Thomasville 88 63 pt sunny Valdosta 88 63 pt sunny Warner Robins 86 56 t-storm Waycross 90 62 pt sunny l c »y Phoenix 84 60 sunny San Francisco 70 53 sunny Seattle 59 47 rain St. Louis 55 35 pt sunny Washington, DC 73 55 cloudy ing which struck down the photo ID requirement. It later turned out that the number was closer to 200,000. Mclver said he plans to ask at an election board spe cial meeting scheduled for Tuesday afternoon why he was given the wrong number, but that he stands by a deci sion to mail letters after the judge’s order. At Tuesday’s meeting, Mclver said he will, also call for new pub lic service announcements on radio and television and for the Secretary of State’s Office to fund a postcard mailing to all 305,000 reg istered voters who received the original letter about the photo ID law. Take It Off -Keep it Off! •> -A* < ' . • >* ■■ Come to the Free Open House and Learn How t 0... Thursday, October 19 5 - 6 p.m. Perry Hospital Medical Library TOPS Members will provide low-calorie, low-fat refreshments. For more information, call: 988-1813 or 988-1827 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2006 ♦ Obhuawes LL COLu LAMAR BROWN. USAF (REX) WARNER ROBINS - Lamar Brown, 86, passed away Saturday. Visitation will - he today from 6-8 p.m. at McCullough Smtftr ‘* Funeral Home. Services will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday at Trinity United ’'TSr" Methodist Church with entomb ment following in Magnolia Park Mausoleum. Visit www.mcculloughfh.com to sign the Online Registry for the family. Senate district lawsuit hangs on three lines in Ga. By GREG BLUESTEIN Associated Press Writer ATLANTA - The legal debate over the way Georgia’s legislative seats are redrawn boils down to three sentences in the state’s constitution. The first two are sim ple enough, giving the Legislature the power to overhaul the districts and requiring that each be con tiguous. It’s the third line, though, that landed lawyers in the Georgia Supreme Court on Monday to argue over a Republican bid to split the Democratic stronghold of Athens in half. Emmet Bondurant, the lawyer for the plaintiffs told the state’s top court that the line - which gives lawmak ers the power to reapportion districts “as necessary” after each Census - means the Legislature cannot redraw the map whenever it wants without a specific reason. And that includes “politi cal expediency,” he said. “This court ought to be concerned with the demo cratic process and how it works,” he said. State lawyer Dennis Dunn warned the high court it should not “wade into the quagmire of redistricting” but rather leave it to the legislative branch. “This is not a time or place for disgruntled citizens to Great Deals Free AD for items under SSO Call 987-1823 for details Come See Our Newly Expanded Showroom! Mtfdte Gmrffa’a Lvfttl Utectlm Of Uthtin C Fijrtuwj Q SOUTHERN I jL LIGHTING p, HOME LIGHTING CENTER 3 [Jo Jt Est. 1 98 7 Fans, Framed Prints y Lamps & Framed Mirrors 929-0624 m 9. sai io-2 P m 2508 Moody Road 00038805 come to court and get a dif ferent political decision than an elected body of legisla tors,” he said, adding that the plaintiffs’ only argument lies in Bondurant’s “fertile imagination.” The redrawing - the only major map change by the Legislature this year - came after Democratic state Rep. Jane Kidd announced plans to seek the seat. Kidd, who is facing Republican Bill Cowsert for the Senate seat, was a plain tiff in a federal suit which has been thrown out. But the state case, which was filed by voters in the new district, is still alive. Republicans in the Legislature said the changes to the map were made in response to a five-year-old request by commissioners in Madison County, who want ed their county to be entirely in one Senate district. The district that Kidd is seeking now includes all of Republican-dominated Oconee County, about half of Athens and part of Walton County. Two other districts were also tinkered with under the plan. The court’s decision is unlikely to affect the Nov. 7 election. If the court rules in favor of the plaintiffs, though, it would likely require special elections in the three dis tricts. WARNER RORINS SUPPLY OF PERRY We Rent! 612 Ball St. Perry, GA 987-2334 ♦ Houston Healthcare Perry Hospital V9 3M 3A