Newspaper Page Text
LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY,
city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville
VOLUME 136, NUMBER 243
BELOW THE FOLD: Four years later - Couple at last gets to spend Christmas together Sex offender back in jail
Friday
December 22,2006
The Home Journal’s
FRONT
PORCH
IN BRIEF
The Chick-fil-A Bear Brawl
tipped off at Houston County
Wednesday. Winners included
Houston County's girls and boys
and Warner Robins' girls.
Also, Perry standout softball
and soccer player Crystal Greer
signed a scholarship Wednesday
to continue her education at South
Georgia College.
- See 1B
IN BRIEF
High Museum bus
trip planned
The Fine Art Society of Middle
Georgia is planning a trip to the
High Museum, Woodruff Arts
Center in Atlanta Jan 16, 2007.
The bus will leave from Warner
Robins Senior Citizens Center at
9 a.m. and return around 6 p.m.
The cost is $24 which includes
transportation and admission to
the museum. To sign up call Pat
at 929-2891.
Georgia DOT to scale
back over holidays
The Georgia Department of
Transportation, according to a
release, will scale back its con
struction projects across the state
- suspending related lane clo
sures on all interstate and major
state system highways - through
Monday to ease Christmas holi
day traffic congestion.
Beginning at noon Friday, and
continuing until 5 a.m., Tuesday
there essentially will be no sched
uled lane closures on any Georgia
interstate highway or primary state
route. (Similar work restrictions
will be in place next weekend for
the New Year's Day holiday.)
The Department noted that
some work may continue on less
er-traveled state and local sys
tem roads and that incident - or
emergency maintenance - could
become necessary on any route.
CLARIFICATION:
In Wednesday’s Houston
Daily Journal, it was reported
that Habitat for Humanity was
the recent recipient of a $5,000
donation. The article stated it
came from Andy Thomas State
Farm Insurance, which it did. but
Thomas wanted to ensure every
one knew it was the State Farm
Foundation that provided the gift,
not him or his agency personally.
BIRTHDAYS
Today
■ Sarah Hawk
■ Dorothy Lucas, 88
■ Danielle Ray
■ Joan Dorsett
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3-DIGIT 306
December 22, 2006
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County, cities in a stink over septage
By RAY LIGHTNER
Journal Staff Writer
The handling of septage is
one of the biggest problems
the cities and the county are
facing.
That is, according to
the County Commission.
Chairman Ned Sanders,
who told the local legislative
delegation Wednesday that
septage - the residue com
ing out of septic tanks - “is a
genuine concern in Houston
County. It’s a statewide and
a local problem.”
Sanders said local compa
Finally...
... home for the holidays
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Journal Nancy Hawk
Christopher and Stephanie McClesky.
After four years of deployments,
couple at last gets to spend
Christmas together
By NANCY HAWK
Journal Staff Writer
What if you were
to get married
and five years
later, finally had
the first family
Christmas in your
service career? That is the case
for Christopher and Stephanie
McClesky. The couple will celebrate
their first Christmas as/with the fam
ily this week.
The very first Christmas as man
and wife was at Kadena AFB,
Okinawa, Japan. Christopher made
it home to his wife, at 11:35, Dec.
25.
The second Christmas he didn’t
make it home at all.
The third, baby Calloway
WWW.HHJNEWS.COM
nies have to pump out resi
dents’ tanks from time to
time and, that it’s getting to
the point where the city sew
age treatment plants won’t
accept it.
He explained it was
because county septage has a
higher concentration of sew
age compared to city sewage,
which is more diluted.
He said the septage raises
the levels at the treatment
plant to beyond what is per
mitted by the Environmental
Protection Division.
In fact, Mayor Donald
McClesky had arrived, but
McClesky was busy in training as
a K-9 specialist and wasn’t able to
make it home (for either event).
When Christmas No. 4 rolled
around, this time it was Stephanie
who was deployed.
Baby Madison had arrived sev
eral months before, but this time it
was mom who was gone.
This year the celebration will be
one filled with all the sights and
sounds of the holidays - along
with grandmother and grandfather,
aunts, uncles and a cousin as they
spend it in Cookville, Tenn.
Regrets over Christmases lost?
Yes. But they both admit they knew
what they were getting into.
Plus, they married for all the “right
reasons.
"A county-wide sewage system is
economically astronomical. It's not
economically feasible."
- County Commission Chairman Ned Sanders
Walker said the septage is so
concentrated it’s about 10
times as sewage through the
sewer line.
Because it raises the lev
els too high, the city sewer
treatment plants in Perry
“Many young people in the ser
vice do not like the barracks life,”
explained Christopher. “(That’s) not
a good reason to get married.
“The drive it takes to keep things
going even when on deployment
is not a matter of how close you
are but on other important things.
“Trusting each other and always
communicating with your wife
or your husband helps prevent
troubles before they get so out of
control.”
“I got married not to have a room
mate. I got married to my wife
because I loved her. There are no
conveniences in a military marriage.
Everyone has to give their all or
some of their selves up.
“Even children to some extent
See HOME, page 6A
and Warner Robins have
stopped accepting it, they
said, adding Warner Robins
recently began taking it
again, but, at the request of
the county and after find
ing out Cochran, where they
Two SECTIONS • 12 PAGES
were telling the haulers
to go, suddenly stopped as
well.
A possible solution is pre
treatment of the septage.
“The city has contacted the
county about a pretreat
ment site,” County Director
of Operations Tommy
Stalnaker said.
He estimated the cost of
such a site between $250,000
to $750,000, depending
on the level of treatment.
“Without pretreatment,”
Stalnaker said, “it is a
See SEPTAGE,page 6A
WR to now
charge paper
for plastic
By RAY LIGHTNER
Journal Staff Writer
So you want to pay your city
taxes with your credit card?
Now it will cost an additional
transaction fee for the conve
nience of charging your taxes
in Warner Robins. The city has
adopted a fee schedule begin
ning in January.
City Comptroller Bill Harte
said the convenience fees allow
the city to recoup the transac
tion fees from the credit card
service.
The council action also gives
latitude for the comptroller’s
office to change the fees “as
our costs go up or down,” Harte
said.
He noted very few people in
the city use the service now.
The fee is about 2.5 percent
per transaction and is actually
set at that amount for transac
tions of SI,OOO or more.
For transactions up to $49.99
the fee is $1.20. It’s $2.25 for
transaction between SSO and
$99.99, $4.40 for transactions
between SIOO and $199, $6.55
for those between S2OO and
$299.99 and $8.70 for those
between S3OO and $399.99.
The fee goes to $10.85 for
transactions between S4OO
and $499.99, is sl3 for those
between SSOO and $599.99,
$15.20 for those between
S6OO and $699.99, $17.30
for those between S7OO and
See PLA STIC, page 6A
Sex offender
back in jail
By RAYLIGHTNER
Journal Staff Writer
Monroe Jackson 111, was
arrested Thursday for failing
to register his address with
the Sheriffs
office.
Jackson, 32,
is a convicted
sex offender
and is required
to register his
residence as
part of his sen
tence. He also
has two drug
convictions.
He was convicted Nov.
14, 1997 for statutory rape.
He was released and reg
istered as a convicted sex
offender as of June 6, 1999.
He was also convicted of pur
chase, possession, manufac
ture, distribution or sale of a
controlled substance or mari
juana twice - May 23, 2001
and again Nov. 16 of this year -
and given five years probation
See JAIL, page 6A
4tj.'
JACKSON 111