Newspaper Page Text
LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY,
city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville
VOLUME 137, NUMBER 35
BELOW THE FOLD: Safe Kids taking its message to children INSIDE: New Perry Motel chef cooking old, new - Food, 2B
Wednesday
February 21,2007
The Home Journal s
FRONT
PORCH
IN BRIEF
Organization to hold
induction ceremony
The 100 Black Men of Greater
Houston County will hold its
inaugural induction ceremony
Thursday at 7:30 p.m., at Middle
Georgia Technical College, locat
ed at 80 Cohen Walker Drive in
Warner Robins.
Ramblers ready for
new members
Do something good for your
self! Make time for fun, fitness and
friendship." So reads a release
from the Robins Ramblers. The
group, which gets together in
the Warner Robins Recreation
Department building located
at 800 Watson Blvd in Warner
Robins is offering 10 free lessons
for western square dancing.
Open house dates are March
14 and 21 with classes beginning
March 28.
The class is limited. Pre-regis
ter by calling 923-8275.
Phoenix Center
board to meet
The Phoenix Center Community
Service Board will meet at noon
Monday at the Phoenix Center,
located at 940 Highway 96 in
Warner Robins.
The Phoenix Center is the pub
lic mental health, developmental
disabilities and addictive disease
board responsible for the deliv
ery of mental health services in
Houston, Peach and Crawford
counties.
According to a release, time is
provided at each meeting for pub
lic input and/or questions about
their accredited services.
For more information, call 478-
988-1002.
BIRTHDAYS
Today
■ Susan Sammons
■ Mickey Blankenship
■ Natalie Matthews
■ Jamie Richardson
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.
DEARLY DEPARTED
■ Sandra Lee Rogers, 61
PERIODICAL 500
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February 21, 2007
-W<>
DA: Juvenile numbers down in 'O6
By RATLIGHTNER
Journal Staff Writer
Juvenile matters remained
steady in 2006 compared to
2005.
The total number of juve
nile matters handled in the
District Attorney’s Juvenile
Office was 3,716, down
slightly from 2005 s total
of 3,779. Those numbers
include traffic offenses, sta
tus offenses and delinquent
acts.
“While juvenile court
numbers were steady for
2006, with almost as many
total filings as we had felony
offenses by adults in 2006,”
Gladys , Chance, Trey, Little Joe, Ollie, Sissy and One-Eyed Jack...
i liwWd*MrrrirFliiir . v 'sSesmM&fsle'Lv. 7
jpg Si
Wendy Leonard with Gladys and Trey.
Pets find a safe haven r
home with Leonards
By CHARLOTTE PERKINS
Journal Lifestyle Editor
ladys heads up the secu
rity team when you arrive
at Wendy and Tommy
Leonard’s country home in
South Houston County.
J|HV A big American
Staffordshire Terrier, Gladys
is wel| -behaved but clearly
watchful until she’s sure the
newcomer’s OK. After all, she’s
got a house and family to protect,
and she learned caution early in life.
When she was 6 weeks old, a group of people
partying in a motel took off and left her there by
herself.
She hid far under the bed until help finally
came.
Wendy Leonard had just started volunteering at
the Perry Animal Shelter, when she got a call from
Happy Wyatt, then animal control officer, who told
her about a frightened puppy in need of "foster
ing” until she was ready for adoption.
Wendy had mostly had cats, but she took on the
challenge, making a safe home for the puppy in
the bathtub of their master bedroom.
Weeks later, when the calls about adoption
started coming in, Wendy just wasn’t sure that
any of the prospective new owners was exactly
right for Gladys. For one thing, the dog she calls
an American Staffordshire is a “pit bull” to many
people, and she didn’t want Gladys adopted for
breeding, or for fighting.
Besides that, Gladys was becoming “Daddy’s
www.hhjnews.com
"Our youth are
doing great and
we should be
congratulating
them on their
behavior.”
- Houston County District
Attorney Kelly Burke
said Houston County District
Attorney Kelly Burke.
Only traffic offenses were
up, while the others were
down. Traffic offenses
showed a moderate rise from
428 to 544 traffic offenses
committed by minors.
Status offenses, which are
basically not crimes, said
Burke, but things such as
runaways, ungovernable,
et cetera, were down from
1,483 in 2005 to 1,325 in
2006.
The total number of delin
quent acts was down slightly
from 1,868 to 1,847 in 2006.
“Here is the truth,” Burke
said, “we have a population
of about 34,000 juveniles in
Houston County. The 1,847
delinquent acts were com
mitted by 1,186 juveniles.
Girl,” following Tommy around everywhere, enjoy
ing the wide open spaces around the Leonard’s
south Houston County home.
Tommy settled it, she says.
When the fourth or fifth call came through, he
just announced, “This dog is not up for adoption.”
Four years later, Gladys is not only a perma
nent family member, but has helped with fostering
countless other puppies and kittens.
Many have stayed just for a while, getting much
needed affection and home care until they could
be offered for adoption, and nothing seems to be
too much trouble for this volunteer.
Wendy regularly takes in pregnant cats who
have been abandoned, for example, and keeps
them until the kittens are at least 10 weeks old.
She has an apron with pockets that sometimes
are filled with kittens, and she’s made plenty of
“kitten formula” for motherless kittens, mixing up
her own concoction of evaporated milk, vaccines
for health, and rabbit vitamins and feeding the
babies drop by drop with syringe.
Many of the kittens and puppies she’s cared for
have found good homes.
Others, like Gladys, and Chance, One-Eyed
Jack, and Trey and Little Joe, Ollie and Sissy,
clearly aren’t going anywhere. Wherever you look
in the Leonard’s home, you’re likely to see wide
eyes looking back.
The names? Well, One-Eyed Jack really does
have just one eye, and Trey had a broken hind
leg amputated at the hip joint as a kitten. Wendy
cared for these cats when they were badly injured
kittens, taking them to her house soon after they
See PETS, page fA
Hey, hey the kids are OK!
Below is the age breakdown of juvenile
delinquent acts:
Under age 10
Age 10-12
Age 13-14
Age 15
Age 16
Age 17
That means that all juve
nile delinquent acts were
committed by only 3.4 per-
Journal/Charlotte Perkins
jLiMiiA Newspaper
— —-
Two sections • 14 pages
2006 2005
83 95
254 247
773 960
717 841
1,143 963
746 765
cent of the kids in Houston
County.”
See JUVENILE, page fA
Traffic
stop nets
12 illegals
By RAY LIGHTNER
Journal Staff Writer
A traffic stop Sunday
night on 1-75 landed 12 ille
gal aliens in jail.
About 10:50 p.m. Perry
Police Sgt. Ron Brainard
initiated a traffic stop on
a green Dodge Caravan for
an alleged improper tag,
explained Capt. Bill Phelps.
Brainard initially saw four
persons in the van.
The driver, Arturo Garcia-
Lopez, 23, said he was going
to Tampa, Fla., and pro
vided a Mexican driver’s
license. He was arrested for
no insurance and no license,
Phelps said.
The other passengers
did not have identification,
Phelps added.
A second officer, Andrew
Borders, responded to assist
Brainard. He opened the
rear hatch to the van to
inventory it, incident to the
driver’s arrest and “found
eight more Hispanic males,
packed in like sardines,”
Phelps said, “all illegal.”
Immigration officials were
called, Phelps said, and
said hold them until they
arrive. All 12 were taken
to Perry Police headquarters
and given cookies and coffee
See ILLEGALS, page 5 A
Sale Kids takes
its message to
children 8-10
Special to the Journal
After 10 years of demon
strated success, in reaching
parents and caregivers with
important safety messages,
Safe Kids of Houston County
and the national Safe Kids
Buckle Up program are
reaching out directly to chil
dren especially the young
between ages 8-10.
“We have always designed
our safety messages for par
ents and caregivers, but
older children need to be
developing their own safety
habits as they become more
independent,” says Patsy
Zoumberis, RN, Health
Educator for Houston
Healthcare’s Community
Education and Services
Department and Coordinator
of Houston County’s
See MESSAGE, page §A