Newspaper Page Text
LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY,
city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville
VOLUME 137, NUMBER 006
Wednesday
January 10,2007
The Home Journal s
FRONT
PORCH
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 one 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.
Clarification
This is a clarification to the
story “Court denies parole for con
victed murderer," which ran Jan. 4.
The word “court” was erroneously
put in the headline. The decision
to deny parole, as it states in
the story, was made by the state
Board of Pardons and Paroles,
Some of the details of the crime
included in the initial story were
based on a press release by the
Parole Board but are not included
or contradict court documents.
According to court documents,
Brooks' 2-year-old child was not
at the home at the time of the
murder and there is no mention
of Brooks sleeping in the bed with
the body. Brooks’ attorney Sonya
Calhoun of the Public Defender's
Office told the court the victim
was with child and if the case had
gone to trial Brooks would likely
also be charged with possession
of a knife during the commission
of a crime - an extra five years to
his sentence - and feticide, which
like the murder also carried a
sentence of life. Also not included
in the press release was Brooks
made a complete confession to
Houston County Sheriff’s Office
Sgt. Jon Holland, the principal
investigator in the case.
- Ray Lightner
BIRTHDAYS
Today
■ Gracie Morgan Svoboda. 1
■ Ken Bussell
DEARLY DEPARTED
■ Lucia Papa Nee Codella
■ Wanda Cook. 80
■ J.W Justice, 4
■ Brianna Elizabeth McDaniel
PERIODICAL 500
I 111111 l
8 *55108 00001* 4
Award-Winning
Newspaper
Belter Newspaper /
Contest XpciSjX
i intS>!limi>tif >!!•>• «<i> IH.mII 1,1f,.,ii
coot *
GEORGIA NEWSPAPER PROJECT
Man Library
UNIV OF GEORGIA
ATHENS GA 3G602-00Q2
3-DSGiT 306
January 10, 2007
ffy.fi Hoi Si lon Coi \/) Si a (/. _/ ft 7^; ■,
BELOW THE FOLD: Hawk leaves an impression ■ 116th receives Outstanding Air Force Unit Award
Made Publix
Shopping center clears P&Z hurdle
By CHARLOTTE PERKINS
Journal Staff Writer
Yes, a Publix grocery store is com
ing to Perry.
Paradise Development Group, Inc.,
which built the Publix shopping cen
ter at the intersection of Lake Joy
Road and Ga. 96, presented plans
to the Perry Planning Commission
on Monday night, requesting a spe
cial exception in order to build a
shopping center larger than 50,000
square feet, which is the limit set in
the city’s comprehensive plan.
Ini I.
m ‘ m*.
* 4, f* fgsi* • \ *■
ENI Gary Harmon
Mike McElheney and David Carr unload one of the trees from the trunk of a car for recycling
during the Great Christmas Tree Roundup held Saturday in Warner Robins. For more on the
roundup, see 6A.
Robins unit
wins award
Special to the Journal
The 116th Air Control
Wing has been awarded
the Air Force Outstanding
Unit Award.
The wing, according to
a release, distinguished
itself through exceptional
ly meritorious service from
August 31, 2004 to May 31,
2006.
This is the 13th
Outstanding Unit Award
the 116th has won, the sec
ond since the wing became
the first total force wing,
blending active duty and
Air National Guard mem
bers in October 2002.
“In the Air Force, only
a handful of ANG organi
zations nationwide receive
this honor,” said Maj.
Gen. Scott A. Hammond,
Commander of the Georgia
Air National Guard.
WWW.HHJNEWS.COM
The developers plan to build a
72,200 sq. ft. shopping center at the
southwest corner of the intersection
of Perry Parkway and Houston Lake
Road on the land owned by Ayers
Farms, Inc.
In addition to the Publix grocery
store, there will be strips of shops on
either side, and 361 parking places.
There will be two stormwater
retention ponds, and the site will
be landscaped. Land along Perry
Parkway is already zoned for com
mercial growth.
Tree trunk
“I congratulate the men
and woman in the unit for
this singularly distinctive
honor.
“The AFOUA acknowl
edges those truly excep
tional units in the Air
Force that perform at the
very top of their respective
field.
“I share with Maj. Gen.
Hammond and the entire
Georgia Air National
Guard in the justifiable
pride of this unique accom
plishment” added Lt.
Gen. David B. Poythress,
The Adjutant General for
Georgia.
The unit is receiving the
award for continued and
unprecedented advance
ment as the only blended,
Total Force Wing in the
United States Air Force;
See AWARD, page 6A
After hearing a report from city
planner Mike Beecham and com
ments from the developers, the
planning commission recommended
approval of the exception, which
will now go before the Perry City
Council for a final vote.
A spokesman for the developers
said that the store should be open by
“the holidays of 2009.”
In other business, the planning
commission approved a number of
subdivision development plats. They
denied Planters First Bank’s request
muni *
;<■& fa® 61 BHH . »s' J*
L~.~> g»n 1'
Journal/Charlotte Perkins
Betty Hovatter was in the drive-through lane at Wendy’s in Perry Tuesday when a hawk
came diving down and slammed into her back window, and leaving the impression
shown at the left on her windshield. Hovatter said she thought at first that she had
been hit by another car, and jumped out, but was told by other drivers that it was a
hawk. The hawk in turn made a clean getaway.
Leaving an impression
Two SECTIONS • 14 PAGES
to have a third freestanding sign
at its new location on Sam Nunn
Blvd. The city’s signage ordinance
limits business to two free-standing
signs. They gave their approval to a
variance to Jada Harris Northcut to
change the zoning of a house at 1309
W.F. Ragin Drive from residential to
commercial use so that she can open
a beauty salon there, but made a
stipulation that the house cannot be
used for any other kind of commer
cial use without another variance.
See HURDLE, page 6A
County pays
first bills of
new year
By RAY LIGHTNER
Journal Staff Writer
Employee benefits made
up a big chunk of the first
county bills of the new year.
The first totaled
$3,950,770.97. About 64 per
cent of that or $2 562,100 was
for employee benefits for the
county’s 600 or so employ
ees, explained Commissioner
Tom McMichael, during the
council’s meeting this past
week.
He said the first bill was
that high because of the
annual benefits and pension
payments.
Most county employees are
paid out of the county gen
eral fund, except for landfill,
water and fire department
employees who are paid
out of enterprise funds. Of
the $2,989,486.60 in bills
paid from the general fund,
McMichael said $2,160,134
went for the annual pension
payment.
The commissioners, dur
ing their meeting, also
approved changes to the
county employee’s pension
plan to bring it in compli
ance with federal law and
raising the interest rate to
5.5 percent.
Another change is
for county retirees and
See BILLS, page 6A
WmMmiSSBBEM