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LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY,
city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville
VOLUME 137, NUMBER 003
BELOW THE FOLD: Perry City Council deals with a variety of agenda items and plays to a packed house
Friday
January 5, 2007
The Home Journal’s
FRONT
PORCH
IN SPORTS
Westfield's wrestling team will
be hosting the Wayne Morris
Ford Hornet Invitational beginning
today. Check out our preview on
that event.
Also, Houston County's middle
school athletic directors/coaches
have selected their All-County
team for 2006.
Plus, check out how Northside's
squads did in basketball against
Baldwin.
-See 1B
IN BRIEF
Volunteers needed
for home repairs
Can you drive a nail? Are you
able to paint a wall or ceiling?
Do you have electrical or roofing
skills? The “Rebuilding Together’’
Warner Robins affiliate is asking
you to join their team. According
to the affiliate, there are a number
of homes in the Warner Robins
area in need of repairs, some
large and some small.
The group heeds volunteers,
both skilled and unskilled, to help
repair or renovate these homes
Since the organization’s begin
ning in 1997, they have renovated
or repaired over four hundred
homes in the immediate area.
If you are willing to help those
in need of home repairs, join the
team by calling Jerome Stephens
at 929-1476.
Gator Club invites
fans for game
The Middle Georgia Gator Club
would like to invite all University of
Florida Gator fans and Ohio State
University fans to join them at
Neighbors Grill, 198 S. Houston
Lake Road, Centerville. Monday.
Some of them will gather at 7 p.m.
for dinner before kickoff at 8 p.m.
For more information call Russ
Winge at 929-1260 or Linda Horky
at 953-8366.
The Great Christmas
Tree Round-up set
Recycle your Christmas tree
during The Great Christmas Tree
Round-Up Saturday on Maple
Street.
The event, co-sponsored
by Flint Energies and ABC
Professional Tree Services and
hosted by Keep Warner Robins
Beautiful, will run from 8 a.m. until
1 p.m. Free tree seedlings will be
given in exchange for Christmas
trees.
BIRTHDAYS
Today
■ Joseph Bearden
■ Tony Outlaw
PERIODICAL 500
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3-DIGIT 306
January 5, 2007
Power outage hits WR
By RAY LIGHTNER
Journal Staff Writer
A burned out conductor on
Elberta Road and a failed relay
at the substation caused a power
outage Wednesday night in Warner
Robins.
The outage affected about 4,300
Flint Energies customers out
Watson Boulevard and up Leverette
Road, according to Jimmy Autry,
vice president of member services
of Flint Energies. He said power
5 percent, it's yours...
Group revises
PY spec bldg.
commission
ByßsiY LIGHTNER
Journal Staff Writer
So you want to buy the Perry Spec
Building? The commission is only 5
percent.
The Houston County Development
Authority, during its meeting Wednesday
approved a revised real estate commis
sion policy, which sets the commission
on the Perry speculative building and
the 20 acres it sits on at 5 percent.
Chairman Neal Reardon said the
authority has “come up with a draft,
more specifically to us and the spec
building.”
Authority member Neal Talton made
the motion for the commission. It was
then unanimously approved by pres
ent members to concur with the draft
- pending review by authority attorney
Mike Long.
The Perry speculative building is in
the Mid Georgia Corporate Center near
the Perry-Houston County Airport and
the Thomson Road exit off Interstate
75.
It is a 120,000-square-foot metal and
masonry building with a 30-foot ceiling
and sits on 20 acres. It has remained
vacant since it was built in 2001 at a cost
of more than $2 million.
The authority paid off the building
early, to be reimbursed with $2.1 mil
lion from the 2006 Special Purpose Local
Option Sales Tax once that revenue
starts coming in.
In other business, the authority also
announced the resignation of Project
Manager Maria Garnto. She had been
working with existing industries in
the authority’s efforts to maintain and
expand the businesses already here.
Garnto resigned “on very good terms,”
Executive Director Morgan Law said,
“to focus her attention on the account
ing world. She is now employed at
Bluebird.”
He said the job has been posted the
Georgia Economic Developers Web site.
He also thanked administrative assis
tant Kimberly Black “for stepping up in
Maria’s departure.”
See REVISES, page *4
Perry Council plays
to packed audience
By CHARLOTTE PERKINS
Journal Staff Writer
Perry’s first city council meeting of
2007 was packed and there was plenty
of participation from citizens and elected
officials alike.
A proposal for rezoning of 12.86 acres
between Frank Satterfield Road and
Quinelle Drive drew a large number of
residents of the adjoining streets. The
proposal from Ocmulgee Engineering
is to build a subdivision of one-family
homes.
While some citizens protested that
the traffic would increase or that the
new homes might lower their own prop
erty values, most of the public com
ment dealt with problems of wastewater
See COUNCIL, page pi
WWW.HHJNEWS.COM
"When it goes, it
melts.”
- Flint Energies Vice President of mem
ber services Jimmy Autry, on a burned
out conductor
was restored to half of the custom
ers within an hour and to all by
8:35 p.m.
“Power was back on before the
Life is rosy for Cheeks
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Earl H. Cheek, right, seated, celebrated his 90th birthday with a big family gathering. Joining him
were his wife, Norma, seated, and his three children, Carol Ann Barckley, Earl Cheek, Jr., and Mary
Larimer.
Longtime educator turns 90
By CHARLOTTE PERKINS
Journal Lifestyle Editor
Some came from North
Carolina, some from
Florida, some from
California. They were all there
when Earl Cheek’s family got
together on Saturday night and
threw him a birthday party to
remember.
The event was held at the Steak
House in Hawkinsville, with a
bountiful buffet and plenty of
birthday cake.
For all the honors Earl Herman
Cheek has earned over the years
as a force in education and com
munity service, it would be hard to
imagine a greater honor than the
outpouring of affection he received
at the family reunion and dinner
in his honor.
He was thanked for being “an
encourager,” a good listener, and a
grandfather who took both grand
children and step-grandchildren on
fishing trips and to football games,
as well as encouraging them to do
their best work in school.
While most Perryans know him
as “Mr. Cheek,” he was “Gramps”
to a host of young people at the
party. All of his grandchildren
except one was present, and that
See EDUCATOR, page pi
Orange Bowl started,” Autry said.
He said a conductor on Elberta
Road burned out, when the old cop
per wiring failed.
“When it goes,” Autry said, “it
melts.”
To prevent outages, Flint has
a relay system, Autry said. But,
“for some reason the relay did not
work at the substation” on Nelson
Street and Watson Boulevard and
knocked it off line as well.
See OUTAGE, page pi
Earl H. Cheek grew up in Dodge County, and got a head start in
school through the efforts of his five older sisters who taught him to
read and write at a very young age. He was the oldest of five broth
ers was well, and enjoys talking about the days when they all picked
cotton. He served his country in World War 11, and continued in the
Air Force Reserves, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel.
He attended Middle Georgia College and went on to the University
of Georgia where he earned a BSA in 1937 and a Masters in
Education in 1951.
Cheek was named to the University of Georgia Agriculture Hall
of Fame in 2000 for his many contributions in the field of vocational
agriculture. He served for 37 years as a teacher, during which time
he established two vocational agriculture departments and trained
and supervised 10 University of Georgia student teachers in voca
tional agriculture. Most of his teaching career was spent at Perry
High School. He was a charter member of the Georgia Vocational
and Extension Service Coordinating Committee and served on the
state Agriculture Education Committee.
He has also been given the National FFA Alumni Outstanding
Achievement Award and was named Georgia Retired Educator of
the Year in 1997.
In addition to his military service and his 37 years spent in the field
of education, he also served as an administrative aide to U.S. Sen.
Sam Nunn and as field director for Congressman Richard Ray.
He and his wife, Norma, live in Perry, and enjoy spending time
with their large family and many friends. He and his first wife, the
late Marian Cheek, had three children who have followed in his
footsteps as educators. His son, Earl H. Cheek, Jr., PhD., is on the
faculty of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. His daughter,
Mary Cheek Larimer, is a school counselor in Covington. His daugh
ter, Carol Ann Cheek Barckley is headmaster of a private school in
Fountain Valley, N.C.
Two SECTIONS • 12 PAGES
PD hunts 2
in robbery
By RAY LIGHTNER
Journal Staff Writer
Warner Robins Police are looking
for two suspects in the Wednesday
night armed robbery of the Carolina
Avenue Phillips 66.
On at day at approximately 10:30
p.m., officers of the Warner Robins
Police Department responded to
the 100 Carolina Ave., Phillips 66,
See ROBBERY, page pi
A lifetime of service