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LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY,
city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville
VOLUME 137, NUMBER 005
BELOW THE FOLD: HCBOE holds meeting on rezonings H Warner Robins doubles mayor's salary • Fair hosts roping championships
Tuesday
January 9,2007
The Home Journal’s
FRONT
PORCH
IN SPORTS
It was a full slate of basketball
for the county's schools this past
weekend. Check out the results
for Houston County, Perry and
Westfield.
- See 1B
IN BRIEF
Police to offer course
on handgun basics
The Warner Robins Police
Department will be conducting a
course on Handgun Basics for
Women. The class will be held
at the Warner Robins Police
Department Firing range Jan. 22
and 23 at 7 p.m. and Jan. 27 at 8
a.m. The class will consist of two
classroom sessions and gne ses
sion on the firing range.
The classroom sessions will be
approximately two hours and will
cover topics about handgun safe
ty, shooting and laws concerning
handguns. The range session will
be approximately four hours and
will consist of shooting exercises.
The cost of the course is $25.
For further information con
tact Grace Hodges at the Warner
Robins Police Department Training
Center at 929-7253.
Dogwood committee
begins preparations
The Perry Dogwood Festival
Committee and the Perry Area
Chamber of Commerce are cur
rently organizing the 19th Annual
Perry Dogwood Festival, set for
April 14-15 in downtown Perry.
To that end. they are also call
ing all artists to enter the Perry
Dogwood Festival T-Shirt Design
Contest. It is open to all artists,
professional, amateur and stu
dent. You can also enter as many
times as you like at $lO per entry.
Designs must be 12 by 14 inches
or smaller. You can also use any
medium: from paints, photogra
phy, to colors. The design must be
suitable for silk screening.
All artwork must be original.
Entries must be received by Jan.
30 at 5 p.m. To receive an official
entry form call 478-987-1234 or
email: tammy@perrygachamber.
com.
BIRTHDAYS
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January 9, 2007
Are you being SERVed?
Police aim to put a stop to redlight violations
By RAY LIGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
Warner Robins Police
are once again conducting
Operation Stopping Every
Redlight Violation.
During January, the Warner
Robins Police Department,
according to the agency, will
be monitoring various inter
sections throughout the city
FIRST look
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ENI Gary Harmon
Joseph Green and Ben Adamson, members of team Robo Padas, compete during the
FIRST Lego League Robotics competition Saturday at the Museum of Aviation. For
more, see 2A.
BOE gains input on reznnings
By NANCY HAWK
Journal Staff Writer
The Houston County
Board of Education held a
special session Thursday
to obtain public input, as
regards to the board’s pro
posed rezoning to take place
at the beginning of the 2007-
2008 school year.
The meeting began at 6
p.m. in the Houston County
High School auditorium.
The public was given the
opportunity to submit writ
ten questions to the panel of
BOE central administration
representatives, to be read
by the board’s legal advisor,
Attorney Jeff Grube.
Superintendent Danny
Carpenter opened the meet
ing with some facts about
the rezonings.
Some of the zoning statis
tics are as follows: Lake Joy
WWW.HHJNEWS.COM
for redlight as well as seat
belt and child safety seat vio
lations.
The goal of Operation
SERY according to the police
release, is to combat the
increasing number of acci
dents that occur at or near
intersections.
It is in answer to numer
ous citizen complaints about
Elementary has experienced
an increase of 361 students
in the last three years, while
an additional 1,932 new
building sites have been
approved.
Feagin Mill Middle School
has a student population of
991. Perry Middle School
has a population of 9i3.
It is necessary, the board
said, to relieve the over
crowding at both schools
by moving 370 students to
Mossy Creeks new middle
school.
A change for King’s Chapel
Elementary has changed
the school grade levels to
pre-K through fifth grade;
this bringing some relief to
Perry Primary School, which
has also been experiencing
crowding and serious traffic
congestion.
Along with the students,
teachers will be allowed to
the red light violations. This
is third serving of the opera
tion - it initially began in
August.
The first two-week opera
tion in August resulted in
about 450 citations, but was
focused on specific intersec
tions, the release read.
Like the second SERVing
See REDLIGHT, page S>A
transfer to these new schools
as well.
According to Carpenter
these transfers will be vol
untary.
An effort to assist the stu
dents to adjust to the new
schools has been carefully
considered, he said, both in
the geographic design of the
zones and academic guides,
in the form of school leader
ship.
The BOE has also approved
the following individuals as
principals:
■ Dr. Cheryl Thomas was
named principal of Quail
Run Elementary;
■ Elgin Mayfield, Jr., was
named principal of Perry
Primary School;
■ Dr. Jesse Davis was
named principal of Feagin
Mill Middle School
■ Ruth Davison was
See INPUT, page
PD seeks 3 In robbery
By RAY LIGHTNER
Journal Staff Writer
Warner Robins Police are seeking three suspects in
the Saturday night robbery of a Dunbar Road conve
nience store.
On Saturday at 9:44 p.m., uniformed officers of the
Warner Robins Police Department were dispatched
to 700 Dunbar Road in reference to a robbery of the
Mini Giant 2. Upon arrival uniformed officers met
with an Indian male who stated that three males
entered the store and produced firearms. The clerk
was not injured.
The suspects demanded cash and then fled the
See ROBBERY, page j 4
Sheriffs Office hunts
another absconder
By RAY LIGHTNER
Journal Staff Writer
Have you seen Jerry
Adam Whittaker?
Whittaker, 26, is wanted
for moving without tell
ing the Houston County
Sheriffs Office. The charge
is registration of a sex
offender, a felony, because
as a convicted sex offend
er he is required, as term
of his probation to notify
the sheriffs office when he
changes his residence.
Whittaker pled guilty
Nov. 14, 2001, to a June 17,
2001, statutory rape. He
was sentenced to 10 years,
to serve 12 months in the
county jail. He was also
required to stay away from
WR doubles mayor’s salary
By RAY LIGHTNER
Journal Staff Writer
After next year’s elec
tions, the mayor of
Warner Robins will make
SIOO,OOO.
The Warner Robins
City Council voted 6-1 to
increase the mayor’s salary
with Mayor Donald Walker
voting against. The base
salary for the mayor is cur
rently $50,000.
“You are more than
deserving of that,”
Councilman Dean Cowart
Steaking their claim
WE
ENI Gary Harmon
A competitor sets about the chase during the U.S.
Team Roping Championships held Friday-Saturday at the
Georgia National Fairgrounds. For more, see 38.
an Evans ‘FAMH.y Newspaper
Two SECTIONS • 12 PAGES
the victim
and obtain
his general
equivalen
cy diploma
and sex
offender
terms and
conditions.
He was listed on
the Georgia Bureau of
Investigations Sex Offender
Registry on Dec. 20, 2001.
Since 2005, he has violated
the terms of his probation,
according to court records,
on four different occasions.
The first offense was on
May 3, 2005, for changing
his address without per
mission.
See HUNTS, page §A
told the mayor. “You deserve
to reap benefits. It’s just
some of the benefits you
give to the city.”
Warner Robins does not
have a city manager and
the mayor’s position is as
a full time city adminis
trator, as well as a voting
member of the city council.
Councilman John Havrilla
said the mayor deserved a
raise because of his impact
on the city.
The council also elected
Councilman Steve Smith
See SALARY, page 6A
Inside
Another
absconder
back in jail
- page 5A