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♦ WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2006 6A FORUM From page tA of the Houston County Board of Education’s $65 million bond debt if the BOE’s SPLOST money was not sufficient to meet the debt. An ICU member said that Walker is running on the motto that he has not raised taxes. His motion was sent to commission lawyer Mike Long in February 2006, who said the measure was legal and it was approved two months later. As one mem ber said, “Our elected offi cials divided and conquered. The developers lead and we follow with our SPLOST dollars.” Wittenberg said that all candidates for local state and county positions were invit ed. Those who showed up were encouraged to speak. Scott Taylor the Democratic candidate run ning against incumbent Larry O’Neal for State House District 146 spoke first. He said he was for respon sible economic development and said, “It is important to ask, ‘what is it you plan to do?”’ He intends to become involved in community out reach to get input from, “the average, everyday citizen.” He said the current admin istration’s brags about a bal anced budget required by state law were inaccurate. “We borrow against (state issued) bonds,” Taylor said. “The state is sl2 billion in debt. They’re just playing lip service to say we have a balanced budget.” Ron Bass the Democratic candidate for State House District 136 is running SCHOOLS From page iA points over last year and beat the national average by 15 points, with an average score of 1039 on the verbal and mathematics combined and total score of 1533. “We are very excited about this honor,” said Houston County High Principal Sheila Beckham. “This has been a united team effort of our teachers, counselors, administrators and parents. It takes all of us working together to help our stu dents excel on the SAT, and it takes the hard work of the students.” Northside High and Perry High will each receive a cer tificate recognizing their three-year average gain RECORD From page iA over last year’s record num ber of 400,615,” Treptow said. The Georgia National Fair’s designation as a Top 50 Fair in North America holds true. Several other records were attained during the Fair. Several single day atten dance records - the first Friday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday - and the grosses for food and midway rides set new records, too, Treptow said. Reithoffer provides the midway rides for each of the 17 fairs. “They were a com mitted believer in the fair from the beginning and are a committed today,” Treptow said. Of all the fairs on the east cost, they have their highest grosses in Perry,” she said. People in Georgia like to ride,” Treptow said, “and TAXES From page iA the Board of Equalization. A few, 21, were sites out of business and/or uncollect ible. There was one bank ruptcy. The errors included 21 addresses not in city lim its, homestead exemptions, 10 changes in value from Peach County and about assessment appeals or pro tests, a couple court settle ments and several others were city owned property. In other business, the voted to take $39,476 from the unobligated fund bal ance and move it to the gen against Beth Perera. His platform is the envi ronment. A mqjor concern is annexation and develop ment and the affects they have on water quality and the environment. Bass is opposed to amnesty for illegal immigrants. “I see my friends strug gling to pay bills,” he said. Maurice Braswell, running against Jay Walker for coun ty commissioner also spoke. According to Wittenberg, Walker was invited to attend as were the opponents of Taylor and Bass. “I’ve been accused of being a one issue candidate,” Braswell said. “It’s time to move on. I intend to be your representative. My only job will be as your representa tive.” He talked about the devel opment board hired by the county, saying that the direc tor makes SBO,OOO a year, his assistant $60,000 and their secretary $40,000. Braswell said they gave $5,000 to the campaign to get last summer’s SPLOST passed. Responding to Walker’s declaration that he hasn’t raised taxes, Braswell point ed to his motion for the ad valorem tax and also said that Walker voted to increase his salary by 100 percent. Braswell said he wants to put a freeze on county property taxes on the value of property at the time the freeze goes into affect. He pointed out that his freeze proposal would not affect the state’s millage rate, only the county’s. “They don’t want it,” Braswell said of the current commissioners, “because it means they’ll have to count pennies instead of dollars, on the SAT of at least 10 points. Perry High’s scores improved 41 points over last year, while Northside High maintained its scores after its 33-point jump in 2005. Dr. Robin Hines serves as the principal of Northside High and Dr. Darryl Albritton serves as the Perry High principal. Warner Robins High had the highest scores of the 11 schools in its 3-AAAA region. Warner Robins High’s SAT total average score was 1510, an increase of 20 points over 2005 and 33 points above the state average. Steve Monday serves as principal of Warner Robins High. The recognition and awards are part of the Governor’s Cup challenge, a statewide competition initiated by Governor Sonny Perdue in people come to Perry to ride the rides.” The concerts, sellouts in past years, were not sold out again this year. “We don’t know why,” Treptow said. It’s been the trend in the area, concerts don’t sell out and at fairs across the coun try.” “Those that came out enjoyed the concerts,” she emphasized. “Hopefully we’ll get information from surveys as to why the con certs did not sell out.” “The Fair has earned a solid reputation as a clean and safe event for the entire family,” said Michael A. Froehlich, executive direc tor. “Parents appreciate a place where their children are able to experience an event that offers a special blend of education and entertainment.” “The Georgia National Fair has passed the genera tional torch,” said Froehlich. “Youth who competed at the eral engineering budget to pay Integrated Science & Engineering of Fayetteville for stormwater management consulting services. Walker said the ongoing expense is an unfunded man date from the state, requir ing the city to comply with newly implemented storm water management require ments. The money will be repaid to the general fund upon the creation of a stormwater utility. The utility will bill water and sewer customers for stormwater management based on the amount of run off a property has calculated and they don’t want to do that, but they need to. “The county is shrinking in size, but the budget is increasing. They’ve given themselves raises and hired 12 new people.” Braswell is for focusing on needs instead of wants and used the idea of convention center that’s being bandied about as an example. “I will not vote to put one dime into a convention cen ter,” he said. “Let the devel opers pay for it.” Braswell wants to stop the free ride he believes develop ers and realtors are getting from county officials. “I do not see one reason developers shouldn’t pay their fair share,” he said. “Developers are also causing pollution. Why should tax payers be asked to foot the total bill for roads in new developments?” He said, “All they under stand is three things: money, power and numbers. We don’t have the money to fight them, but we have the power and the numbers when we go to the ballot box.” Although they were not invited, two candidates for Houston County Board of Education came and spoke to the group. Kathy Brown is a candidate for Post 2. Brown began her talk by discussing the dropout rate in Houston County. Citing statistics from the State of Georgia 2005-2006 K-12 Report Card, she said that more than 1,000 students have dropped out of Houston County public schools in the last three years. She also pointed to the CRCT results from the Crossroads alternative school. She said that 30 per 2003 as part of an overall effort to raise Georgia’s SAT scores. The challenge is based on high school athlet ic regions and classifications assigned by the Georgia High School Association. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. sponsors the trophies and monetary awards for the Governor’s Cup and also provides eligible high schools with a SAT Preparation CD- Rom. To be eligible for the Governor’s Cup, high schools must be members of GHSA and must have scores from at least 20 seniors reflected in the school’s SAT average for both the current year and two previous years. For more informa tion on the Governor’s Cup Challenge visit www. satrocks.com. Fair in its early years are now sharing the Fair expe rience with their children. The sense of ownership is worn proudly by our fairgo ers.” The 18th annual, state sponsored Georgia National Fair is scheduled for Oct. 4-14, 2007. Since 1990, the Georgia National Fair has won 63 awards from the International Association of Fairs and Expositions for its agricultural events, com petitive exhibits, and com munications programs. The Georgia National Fair has been designated a Southeast Tourism Society “Top 20 Event for October” 10 times. The Fair has received one “Special Events Directory and Events Business News Top 200 Event” award. In 2002, the Fair was designat ed one of Southern Living magazine’s “Our Best 202 Things About the South First-Prize Fair.” from the amount of impervi ous surface on the property. The city also received a reimbursement check from St. Bernard Parish in Louisianna.The check for about $37,400 is reimburse ment for the time, person nel and equipment Warner Robins Fire Department contributed in hurricane relief efforts. Walker, in accepting the check from Fire Department Chief Robert Singletary noted that Warenr Robins fire fighters and GSAR (Georgia Search And Rescue) headed up teams in the recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina, last year. LOCAL cent of the eighth grade stu dents did not pass the CRCT and that 55 percent of the 49 students who took the math part of the test failed it. “We’re pouring a lot of money in alternative educa tion, and it is not working,” she said. She questioned why the board had not sold the prop erty on Elbert used to house the old alternative school facility. She believes the sale of the property to be better for the school system than using it as office space. Voicing the concerns of another board candi date present at the meet ing, Brown said that the federal government did an audit when it noticed that although crime was down in the schools, it was up in the county. “In Houston County, the principal makes the determi nation if an unsafe incident was to be reported. If the incidents exceed a certain number, then students can leave the school for a safer environment and the fund ing follows the students.” She said the current Houston County policy con travenes state policy. Another issue on her plat form was the way Houston County discourages parent involvement in state man dated school councils by scheduling meetings when it is difficult for parents to attend. “School councils are part of law, House Bill 1187,” Brown said. “The school councils in our county are not effective councils.” She gave examples of school principals schedul ing meetings early in the morning while the school SUSPECTS From page iA sustained during the inci dent. The suspect is described as a black male, approxi mately 20 to 25 years old, 5- foot-7 to 5-foot-8 in height with a slender build. He was last seen wearing a black baseball cap, black T shirt, black jacket and black in color baggy jeans. On Tuesday at 1:41 a.m., officers responded to an Arnold Boulevard residence concerning a burglary and armed robbery. The victims told police they heard a knock at their front door and when one of the vic tims answered the door, five masked gunmen forced their way into the resi dence. One of the suspects ■life. , , VHIV I afeu ” a Jm ENI/Gary Harmon Owner Robert Stamp talks to Virgil Whitehead about his 1969 GTO at the 14th annual Wings and Wheels Car show held Saturday at the Museum of Aviation in Warner Robins. For more, see Thursday’s Houston Daily Journal. DAVID OVERTON JEWELERS /\ 'Jewelry Repair & Cleaning / \. 'Watch Repair /WW\ • En S ravin S Hours: 'Appraisals Mon.-Fri. -Estate Jewelry 9:3oa ™ a J 3opm 'V’ 'Class Rings 9:3oam-2pm 905 Downtown Carroll St. • Perry doors are unlocked. “Essentially, the Houston County Board of Education is not parent friendly,” she said. “If you want parents involved, make a time when they can attend.” At Large candidate for the school board Bob Scwikert said he wasn’t angry. He was passionate. He’s said he is passionate about a, “Board of Education that is so arro gant, it thinks more about itself than the parents and children they represent.” His example was his daugh ter’s experience at Miller Elementary. According to Scwikert, his daughter was assaulted eight times, but the current principal refused to take action. He attempted to get his daughter transferred to Russell Elementary but, “All six gentlemen disap proved” his appeal after Superintendent Danny Carpenter denied his initial request. “The police department is fed up with the board,” Scwikert said. “It wasn’t until I wrote to the U.S. Department of Education that I got action. It ruled that my daughter’s rights to a safe environment had been violated. “The state has a law on its own books that the student has to be moved within 10 days,” he said. “If according to the school board nothing happened to my daughter then why were eight chil dren found guilty in juvenile court?” He said that local law enforcement officials are tired of the board’s antics. “I could have walked away once my daughter got to Russell,” Scwikert said, “but I want to make sure we demanded money from the victims, to which an undis closed amount was relin quished, police said. All five suspects then departed the residence in an unknown direction. There were no injuries sustained during the incident. All suspects were iden tified as black males and were wearing black in color clothing. Anyone with information concerning either incident is asked to contact Det. Art Curnutte of the Warner Robins Police Department Criminal Investigations Division at 918-2977 or 929-1170. • On Monday, Warner Robins Police also made an arrest in the burglaries at Westwood Apartments. The suspect, a resi dent, has been identified as Fredrick Faulkner, 31, Hot wheels HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL remove this disparity in how children are treated.” Scwikert points to the teacher turnover rate at Miller Elementary saying that the school loses 75 per cent of its teachers every year. “Disparity doesn’t lie with teachers or children,” he said. “We don’t have any leadership, from top to bot tom.” When asked about gang activity and school safety, Scwikert said, “If I hear Fred Wilson say one more time we have a safe school system, I’m going to puke.” ICU members cited gang activity in the schools from the elementary schools through the high schools. While Scwikert had the floor, the group talked about the violence, and Wittenberg told about his son’s prob lems with gang harassment and violence. Scwikert said he intends to go visit the schools and see what’s going on. “When was the last time you saw a school board mem ber at a school function?” Scwikert asked. After the meeting, Wittenberg summed up the goal of Informed Citizens United. “We don’t believe SPLOST is appropriate because it affects two groups: fixed income families and young families trying to get start ed. “The SPLOST taxes utili ties, cell phones, every gal lon of gasoline and food. Even the state doesn’t have a sales tax on food, but the county does. “We think developers should have to pay their fair share. We support impact fees.” 907 Corder Road, Apt. D. Faulkner was arrested for violation of probation and was charged with three of the six burglaries reported since July 8. The investigation is con tinuing and additional charges are expected for the remaining burglaries in the complex, said Detective Brad Mules with the Warner Robins Police Department Criminal Investigation Division Mules said in the six resi dential burglaries reported in the complex the suspect has entered a rear window on the back of the apart ments. Faulkner is currently being held at the Houston County Detention Center without bond. Anyone with information is asked to contact Mules at 918-2981. i^pifiSSKj Visit Our Showroom For Hometown Service Since 1979 IlnppLE rT"."T^l| 1902 ELBERTA ROAD 478 929-2701 www.spplssnctosurss.com I 49642