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PleMstaw JSmtg lomdi LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY, city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville VOLUME 136, NUMBER 231 BELOW THE FOLD: Houston County maintains exceptional writing test scores ■ Georgia launches website for teen drivers Wednesday December 6,2006 The Home Journal's FRONT PORCH IN SPORTS Houston County's basketball squads hosted West Laurens Monday. For the Lady Bears that was good news, not so good for the Bears. In swimming, Warner Robins' giris notched another second-place finish, while the Demons swam to third. Perry also competed in the Coffee County Invitational with Sarah and Patrick Cossart bringing home some . - See 1B IN BRIEF Georgia Chamber to host annual meetings The Georgia Chamber of Commerce will host its annual meeting dinner and Eggs & Issues breakfast Jan. 8-9. 2007 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. Ron Galloway, a pro business author, filmmaker and speaker will headline the dinner the first day ( Monday). That Tuesday more than 2,500 business and community leaders and elected officials will gather again for the breakfast. Newly re-elected Gov. Sonny Perdue, Lt. Gov.-elect Casey Cagle and Speaker of the House Glenn Richardson will all be on hand to speak. According to Georgia Chamber President & CEO, George Israel, "Each year's Eggs & Issues Breakfast seems to get larger and take on more importance, and we expect the 2007 events to be especially significant following the elections.” Tickets are SIOO each with tables of 10 available for SI,OOO. Eggs & Issues breakfast tickets are SSO with tables of 10 avail able for SSOO. For more informa tion, visit www.gachamber.com, or contact the Georgia Chamber at 404-223-2264 or toll free at 1- 800-241-2286. BIRTHDAYS Today ■ Kathy Wells 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. ANNIVERSARY Dec. 5 ■ Darius and Gwen Johnson DEARLY DEPARTED ■ Mark Howard Jennings Seward, 55 PERIODICAL 500 Hill 8 ”55108 0000l 1 4 Award-Winning Better Newspaper Voe~jj£y Contest COOI * GEORGIA NEWSPAPER PROJECT Main Library UN!V OF GEORGIA ATHENS GA 30602-0002 3-DIGIT 306 December 6, 2006 Smzm Mfrimm Cftirrm MW Council douses (ire department grant By NANCY HAWK Journal Staff Writer The Warner Robins city coun cil held its meeting Monday at the municipal complex. One issue of particular interest covered was a Homeland Security Grant. The $1,035,000 grant was earlier awarded to the Warner Robins Fire Department by the Department of Homeland Security but whether it would be accepted was another matter entirely. That, was up to the council, which during the work Where there’s a Means ... - -vzppx?:' v•' -$r . W wk. JB———— m w \ J U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Joseph Kapinos Staff Sgt. Sara Mustapha, a 455th Air Expeditionary Wing aide, hands a Christmas card to Master Sgt. Mark Means, a 455th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron production superintendent. The cards were written, decorated and sent to deployed members by Perdue Elementary School in Warner Robins. The cards made their way to Afghanistan via Mary Terese Tebbe and Operation Season’s Greetings, a show program sponsored by United States Air Forces in Europe and Air Force Reserve Command. Mustapha is deployed from Holloman AFB in New Mexico and Means is from Pope AFB in North Carolina. HoCo maintains exceptinnal writing scnres Special to the Journal The Houston County Board of Education received the results of the Georgia High School Writing Test from the State Board of Education. Houston County juniors have again scored better than their peers around the state. Of the Houston County students who took the test for the first time, 97 percent passed the test as compared to 94 percent for Georgia. Test scores range from 400 to 600; a passing score is 500. Any student with a score above 514 is scoring in the highest quartile. Georgia launches website for teen drivers ‘Joshua’s Law’ goes into effect Jan. 1, 2007 Special to the Journal The Georgia Department of Driver Services has launched a new website, www. gateendr ive reducat ion .com, for teens and parents to obtain informa tion about the changes in Georgia’s driver education requirements. The website includes an on-line question and comment tool for specific inquiries. DDS has also notified approximately www.hhjnews.com session discussed it, but during its work session later, tabled it. Succinctly put, that means it will probably have to go to special ses sion to cover all the issues involved. For starters in that regard, coun cil member Terry Horton of Post 3, said he was not confident the time lines actually meshed well enough to avoid monetary stresses on the Warner Robins budget. “What if the fire station isn’t com pleted on time,” he said. “Then we are stuck with having to pay this money for extra positions we might Georgia High School Writing Test scores 2006 2005 2004 Percent pass Percent Pass Percent Pass System 97 97 96 Middle Georgia counties 93 95 91 State 94 95 93 Houston County High School 98 98 97 Northside High School 95 96 95 Perry High School 98 98 93 “Our students have again shown that they are among the top scholars in the state,” said Superintendent Danny 11,000 teens via mail who will become eligible January 2007 and after to ensure that they are aware of the new requirements. Senate Bill 226 also known as “Joshua’s Law” was passed during the 2005 General Assembly. Beginning January 1, 2007, all 16- year-olds applying for a Class D driv er’s license must complete an approved driver education course and complete a not need? Perhaps we could work on five positions?” The figure (five) Horton brought into play comes about due to the fact Fire Chief Robert Singletary said the grant is for 10 new positions, along with four others to fill vacan cies currently open. The salary for 10 new positions would be $523,000 per year. With the grant the federal government would pay 90 percent the first year, 80 percent the second, 50 percent the third and so on for a total of four years. Then, in the fifth year, Carpenter. “Our high school English and language arts teachers are determined to help our students succeed and I commend them for their hard work. As a system, we are focused on achieving literacy for every student.” total of 40 hours of supervised driving, 6 hours of which must be at night, with a parent or guardian’s sworn verifica tion that these driving requirements have been met. The Georgia Driver Education Commission, also created by 58226, has reviewed and approved various programs in order to develop a compre hensive plan for accessible, affordable and effective driver education state wide. Some of the potential access See DRIVERS, page 6B Three sections • 18 pages Warner Robins would pay for the total salary. The upside is that much of the training and equipping of these posi tions would also be taken care of by the grant, Singletary said. “By accepting this grant we will have the crew of the ladder truck ready and we will have the people hired for the 14 position that we need to be up to National Fire Protection Code standards,” Singletary said. “Right now we are at a force of 30 fire service members. See GRANT, page 6B 1 - /vV Jl : \M s Jh'Mhi ) vV// h \n u Education department seeks input Special to the Journal The Georgia Department of Education is seeking public input on revised state rules guid ing special education. Over the next several weeks, the GaDOE will hold public input sessions at 11 locations around the state about the proposed special education rules. The changes, accord ing to a release, are being made to put state rules in full compliance with 2004 revisions to the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. “We want to hear from the public about these proposed rules,” said State Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox. “I urge the public, especially those with an interest in special education, to look over the rules and give us feedback at one of the public input sessions or in writing.” After the 2004 chang es to IDEA, the U.S. Department of Education See INPUT, page 6B Meeting dates: These are the dates, times and contact information for the 11 Public Input Sessions. All sessions will be held 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and 4 p.m.-7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. D Today: Clayton County Central Office, 1058 sth Avenue, Jonesboro. 770- 473-2700 • Monday: Houston County Career Tech Center (Room 115), 1311 Corder Road, Warner Robins, 478- 322-3307 0 Dec. 13: Columbus Public Library, 3000 Macon Road, Columbus, 706-748- 2140 tl Dec. 14: Chattahoochee Flint RESA, 121 East College Street, Ellaville, 800- 541-9442 Q Jan. 3, 2007: Southwest Georgia RESA, 178 West Railroad Street, Pelham, 229-294-6750 Q Jan. 4, 2007: East Georgia GLRS, 864 Broad Street, Richmond County Board of Education, Augusta, 706-826-1128 Q Jan. 8, 2007: First District RESA, 201 W. Lee Street, Brooklet, 912- 842- 5000 (Note time: 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and 4 p.m.-7 p.m.) Q Jan. 9, 2007: Gwinnett County, Instructional Support Center, 437 Old Peachtree Road, Suwanee, 678-301- 7286 D Jan. 10, 2007: South Central GLRS, 1215 Bailey St., Suite B, Waycross 31501, 912-338-5998 D Jan. 18, 2007: North Georgia RESA, 4731 Old Highway 5, South Ellijay, 706-276-1111