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Former Panther current NFL player
donates $4,000 for weight room
VOL UME **
BELOW THE FOLD: Felonies up 3.8 percent in county courts in ’O6 INSIDE: Perry HS Theatre to present Storybook Theatre
Weekend
February 3, 2007
The Home Journal's
FRONT
PORCH^
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IN BRIEF
Carroll Street in Perry
now one-way
Carroll Street in downtown
Perry is now one-way, north, for
its entire length, Capt. Bill Phelps
of the Perry Police Dept, said that
citizens are asked to be aware
that vehicles can only travel
north on Carroll, which starts at
Courtney Hodges Blvd. and ends
at Macon Road.
Portions of the street have been
one-way for years. The change
is part of the overall Downtown
Development Plan.
Meeting/hearing on
precinct changes set
The Houston County Board of
Election meeting and public hear
ing on proposed precinct changes
to Morningside Elementary - Perry
Primary - Rozar Park Community
Center will be held at 5:30 p.m.
Tuesday in the Multipurpose Room,
Houston County Government
Building, located at 801 Main
Street in Perry. Those attending
are asked to use the entrance on
Main Street or Jernigan Street.
Questions: Call 987-1973.
African Violet club to
present at mall
The Georgia State African
Violet Growers Club will present
its Valentine show Feb. 9-10 t
the mall. The show will be open
during mall hours and is free to
the public. Contact the mall at
478-953-9631 or the show admin
istrator at 478-922-8362 for more.
AARP offering free
tax assistance
The AARP is currently offering
tax assistance - through April 14
- at the Perry Library for "taxpay
ers with moderate incomes.” They
are there Thursdays from 12:30
p.m.-4 p.m. and Saturdays from 9
a.m.-1 p.m.
BIRTHDAYS
Sunday
■ Jackie Hall
■ Jay Thomas
■ Kathy Powers
Monday
■ Laurie Merenda
■ Sachie Thorne
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.
PERIODICAL 500
mini
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Award-Winning
Belter Newspaper fj
Contest Sjoagy
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GEORGIA NEWSPAPER PROJECT
Main Library
UN IV OF GEORGIA
ATHENS GA 30602-QOG2
3-DIGIT 306
February 3, 2007
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-
LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY,
city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville
No justice?
Mother: 6 months not enough for molestor
By RA Y LIGIITNER
Journal Sta ff Writer
<Editor’s note: the names
have been left out to protect
the identity of the victim)
How long should a child
molester get?
The mother of a child who
was fondled doesn’t think
six months in jail is long
Bo knows!
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Journal/Audrey Evans
Firefighters work to extinguish a house fire Thursday around 3 p.m.
Firefighters rescue, revive dog
By RAY LIGHTNER
Journal Staff Writer
The good news from a home fire
Thursday in Perry is one of the fam
ily dogs was revived.
No one was home at the time of the
fire, Thursday about 3 p.m., except
two dogs, Bo and Buster, said hom
eowner William Allford. Thanks to
the efforts of EMT Ed Dixon and
Paramedic Todd Surber from Houston
Emergency Medical Services, Bo sur
vived.
Firefighters found the dog inside
the home after putting out the fire
and brought him out for Surber and
Dixon to work on.
They gave the dog oxygen, putting
a mask over his snout and massaged
the dog for several minutes to resus
citate him. Allford’s wife Mary Bevin
took the dog, once revived, to nearby
Perry Animal Hospital on Courtney
Hodges Boulevard.
Allford, who has shared the house
on Oak Ridge Drive with his wife
for about 10 years, said they had Bo
for about a year. They had Buster,
the smaller of the two, for four-five
See RESCUE, page 6A
Felonies up 3.8 percent in HC courts in ‘O6
By RAY LIGHTNER
Journal Sta ff Writer
There were more criminal cases
filed in Houston County courts in
2006.
New felony case filings increased
3.8 percent in 2006, from 1,930 fil
ings in 2005 to a total of 2,005 felony
case filings in 2006.
That overall caseload increase of
3.8 percent over 2005 numbers is a
more than 50 percent drop in the rate
of increase from the prior year, when
www.hhjnews.com
enough for the man who
pled guilty to sexual battery
on her daughter. “I can’t get
no justice in the courts,” she
said. “What kind of system
do we have here?”
The man who pled guilty
to one count of sexual bat
tery is the stepfather of the
child’s father. The father
was living with his parents
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Journal/Hay Lightner
Paramedic Todd Surber from Houston Emergency Medical Services works
to resuscitate a dog rescued from a fire Thursday afternoon in Perry.
the 2005 case filings increased by 7.8
percent over the 2004 filings.
While total case filings continue to
increase in the District Attorney’s
Office, when compared with the con
tinuing population surge in Houston
County the increase is insignificant
overall, said District Attorney Kelly
Burke
Drug offenses were down, but prop
erty and fraud type cases continue
to increase. Crimes against persons
were also up some, but offenses
against public order were down.
Tve been in a detention center. It's
nothing. There should be a mandatory
sentence."
- Mother of a child who was molested
at the time and has custody
of two girls.
“Generally it was a mixed bag,”
Burke said, “with an overall slight
increase from last year.”
According to the statistics from
District Attorney’s Office, while down
down 12.18 percent from the 593 the
previous year, the 517 drug cases led
the way in 2006 as they had in 2005
and 2004.
Property crimes were down 1.64
percent with 179 in 2006 compared
to 182 in 2005. It is also down from
the 197 in 2004. Public order cases
See COURTS, page 6A
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Two sec TiONS^lpibaaes
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The perpetrator was sen
tenced to Five years, to serve
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PPIP/vs Family Newspaper
■ ■■
180-210 days in a deten
tion center. He was indict
ed on one count of child
molestation as well, but was
not prosecuted on that in
exchange for the guilty plea
to the other charge.
Chief Assistant District
Attorney Jason Ashford said
the plea was offered to spare
See MOTHER, page 6A
Fall: It's all
about the
message'
By CHARLOTTE PERKINS
Journal Lifestyle Editor
When Roland Fall
was growing up in
Savannah, his life
was full of music. He started
with the piano and the har
monica, and played the ukelele
and the tuba before settling on
the guitar.
Getting to
KNOW VOU
Editor’s note: The following
is part of a series of profiles of
interesting people in Houston
County. We welcome reader
nominations for this series. Call
Charlotte Perkins at 478-987-
1823. Ext. 234, or e-mail her at
cperkins@evansnewspapers.
com.
He didn’t know then that
he would be called to the
Methodist ministry.
In fact, he was a Catholic, and
had his eye on being part of the
space program, so he wound up
at Georgia Tech studying elec
tric engineering for a while,
before he realized, as he puts it
with a grin, that math was not
his forte.
But his life was full of anoth
er kind of music then.
“That was in the early 705,”
he says, “and I got into the
whole music scene.”
He was listening to Chicago,
Moody Blues, Steppenwolf,
then Bob Dylan, then Reggae,
and finally, with a friend who
played the banjo, to bluegrass,
with its deep roots in folk
music.
Now he lives near Lake Joy
with his wife and seven chil
dren, and his home is still full
of music. He’s a songwriter
and heads a performing
See FALL, page 6A
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Journal/Charlotte Perkins
Roland Everett Fall is a pas
tor, a musician and father of
seven.