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roll in tourney ends Northeld*
legal organ for Houston County, '*
city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville * EX™!
VOLUME 137, NUMBER 32
BELOW THE FOLD: Two ‘wreck’ burglary WRP&Z OKs 2 annexations, 4 rezonings WRFD sets open house for Saturday
Friday
February 16,2007
The Home Journal s
FRONT
PORCH
IN BRIEF
City of Perry to give
out free seedlings
As part of the Arbor Day obser
vance, the City of Perry will be
giving out free seedlings from 9
a.m.-2 p.m. today at Perry City
Hall.
Bell-Willis to address
NAMI-Central meeting
Feb. 26. Liz Bell-Willis will
address the monthly meet
ing of NAMI-Central Ga. on
“Depression."
According to a release, in
any given year 13-14 million
Americans suffer from clinical
depression. It is the leading cause
of disability among women, reads
the release.
Bell-Willis is a registered nurse
with 21 years of experience in
psychiatric nursing. The meeting
will be at 7 p.m. at the New Hope
Center, located at 100 Story Road
in Warner Robins. The public is
invited to come and ask ques
tions. For more information or
directions cal' 328-0508.
Plans under way for
Dogwood pageant
Plans are under way for the
2007 Miss Dogwood Pageants,
sponsored by the Perry High
School cheerleaders.
The pageants will be held
March 3 in the Perry High School
auditorium. The divisions are
as follows: Tiny Miss Dogwood
4 years old - 4 and SK; Little
Miss Dogwood - first and sec
ond grade; Junior Miss Dogwood
- third, fourth and fifth grade;
Pre-Teen Miss Dogwood - sixth
and seventh grade; Teen Miss
Dogwood - eighth, ninth and 10th
grade; and Miss Dogwood - 11th
grade through age 22.
The Dogwood Queens will
reign over the Dogwood Festival
in Perry April 14-15.
Call Nancy Whiddon at Perry
High School at 988-6298, Ext.
21297 for more information, or the
Perry Chamber of Commerce at
987-1234 and an application will
be mailed. The deadline to enter
is Feb. 25.
You can also email Whiddon for
an application at nwhiddon@hcbe.
net.
BIRTHDAYS
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■ Mona Clark
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GECRG'A HEWoPAPER PROJECT
Main Library
UNIV OF GEORGIA
ATHENS GA 30602-0002
3-DIGIT 306
February 16, 2007
Lawmakers dismiss O'Neal ethics complaint
By shannon McCaffrey
The Associated Press
Three Republican state lawmak
ers dismissed an ethics complaint
against Gov. Sonny Perdue lawyer
Larry O’Neal Wednesday, saying the
SIOO,OOO tax break he is accused
of engineering for the governor
occurred too long ago for them to
investigate.
Senate President pro tern Eric
Johnson said the ethics panel had
simply followed the law, which he
said bans them from considering
conduct before Jan. 9, 2006 when
h,,
V Ifir Aik-
2 arrested after Perry
wrecker yard burglary
By RAYLIGHTNER
Journal Sta ff Writer
A stake out at a Perry
wrecker yard Tuesday night
netted two burglary sus
pects.
Houston County Sheriffs
Office Sgt. Joe Sendek
was watching Peach State
Towing on Hicks Drive fol
lowing two recent burglaries
in which about $12,000 in
scrap metal was stolen.
“I was out there by myself
on a hunch,” Sendek said, to
see if my burglary suspects
would come back, and they
drove up.”
At about 9:30 p.m. Sendek
saw two men drive up in a
pickup truck, turn off the
truck’s lights and jump
over the fence. He called for
backup and issued a descrip
tion of the suspects.
WRP&Z OKs 2 annexations, 4 rezonings
By RATLIGHTNER
Journal Staff Writer
The Warner Robins Planning and Zoning
Commission, during its meeting this week,
OK’d rezoning and annexation of 153.131
acres between Lake Joy Road and U.S. 41.
The request from Jaros Development
LLC and Lake Joy Development LLC was
recommended for approval. The five parcels
all zoned R-l (single family residential) in
the county are south of the proposed Feagin
Mill Road extension.
All rezonings and annexations are rec
ommendations to city council,” explained
Community Development Director Robert
Sisa.
www.hhjnews.com
"This crap that's been
submitted is nothing
more than partisan
politics being played and
belittles the process”
- Senate President pro tan Eric Johnson
the committee was created.
But Johnson and House Speaker
Glenn Richardson also lambasted
"If they had gotten in the car, they
would have gotten away My hat is off
to her," he said ol Gilliam. She did an
outstanding job."
- Perry Police Capt. Bill Phelps, on the actions of Perry Police Field
Training Officer Quridsha Gilliam
“They were right in front
of me. I got a good look at
them,” Sendek said.
Several sheriffs depu
ties, Perry police and
Georgia State Patrol troop
ers responded to search the
area - but in a heavy fog.
Deputy Richard Mayhew
released the canine Bandit,
and Sendek, Mayhew and
Cpl. James Williams set up
a perimeter and the dog
chased them out of the 10-
If approved by city council, about 91.977
acres would be rezoned to R-3 (high den
sity residential, with 7,500-square-foot-lot
minimum). Another 57.673 acres would be
rezoned to R-4 (multi-family residential)
and 13.474 acres would be zoned C-2 (gen
eral commercial).
Keith Newton, who spoke for the develop
ers, told the board the commercial section
would front on the Feagin Mill Road exten
sion. He said the residential portion would
be similar to the Terraces and Carleton
Ridge, with sidewalks, landscaping and
brick homes from $150,000.
Robert Becker from the neighbor
ing Sleepy Hollow subdivision was
See WRP&Z, page §A
Rhythm and hues
acre wrecker yard.
Sendek said one of the
suspects later told him they
saw all the cars coming and
decided to get out of there.
“They weren’t in there long
enough to get anything.”
Perry Police Field
Training Officer Quridsha
Gilliam later spotted two
men attempting to get a
ride at the Flash Foods gas
station near the interstate,
Sec BURGLARY, page fA
the media for following the story
and sharply questioned the merits
of the complaint, which was filed
by a former state Democratic Party
researcher.
“This crap that’s been submit
ted is nothing more than partisan
politics being played and belittles
the process,” Johnson said in a tele
phone interview.
Richardson called it “ridiculous
and outrageous.”
Edward Chapman, who submitted
the complaint, labeled the commit
tee’s actions “a joke.”
Man bums a ride to shoplift,
other violations of the law
By RAY LIGHTNER
Journal Staff Writer
Vincent Edward Gay
reportedly flagged down a
car to get a ride Saturday
at Moody road and Russell
Parkway.
That’s not a crime.
But, when the man who
gave him a ride stopped
at Galaxy Spirits to buy
cigarettes, Gay went into
the store, and reported
ly pulled a yellow Dollar
General bag from his coat.
He then reportedly put
two boxes containing 750
ml bottles of Anejo Paton
tequila in the bag, went to
the counter, told the clerk:
“I bought this in here.”
Then, he rushed out the
door across the street to
the Winn Dixie.
The clerk and the driv
er provided police with
a description of the man
who was then located out
side the Winn Dixie with
By RAY LIGHTNER
Journal Staff Writer
The Warner Robins
Fire Department is hold
ing an open house and
dedication Saturday for
its new headquarters fire
station.
The station at 111 N.
Pleasant Hill Road, (next
to Westside Elementary
School) has been in oper
ation for about a month.
The new Station 1 houses
the department’s admin
“Clearly this committee’s MO
is to dismiss, attack, intimidate,”
Chapman said. “This committee
is cheating taxpayers out of more
money than Larry and Sonny.”
The case had been viewed by a
prominent Georgia watchdog as the
first real test of the Joint Legislative
Ethics Committee, created as part of
Georgia’s ethics reform law in 2005.
Bill Bozarth, executive director of
the Georgia arm of Common Cause,
expressed disappointment.
“Technically it may be
See DISMISS, page *4
WRFD sets open house for Saturday
- ■ -
Two sections • 12 pages
POLICE BEAT
the yellow bag and the
boxes, but not the bottle of
liquor. Police brought the
man back to the store for
positive identification and
arrested him for shoplift
ing. The incident was also
captured on store surveil
lance camera.
Gay, 38, of 102 Vickie
Drive in Warner Robins,
reportedly has three prior
shoplifting arrests.
Criminal trespass - and then
some
A man who kicked the
rear window out of a dep
uty’s patrol car is also
blamed for the damage the
window did when it fell
on another car on Watson
Boulevard Friday evening.
A woman filed a report
See VIOLATIONS,page fA
istration offices.
Two fire trucks operate
out of the new station,
a pumper and a ladder
truck.
The Pleasant Hill Road
station replaces the old
administrative offices
and Station 1 on Green
Street. All personnel and
equipment were moved
over in January.
The Myrtle Street
Station has also been
See OPEN, page
Matt Arthur
Elementary
School
third-grade
students
partici
pated in
a physical
education
lesson in
rhythms
recently
by working
with para
chutes.
Contributed