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LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY,
city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville
VOLUME 137, NUMBER 55
BELOW THE FOLD: Raffle helps raise $3,400 for homeless shelter INSIDE: Gold’s Gym to host charity event
- Today
im Weather Part| y cloud y
JTS High:76Low:sS
hhjnews.com
Wednesday
March 21, 2007
The Hume Journal's
FRONT
PORCH
IPilili
IN BRIEF
Traffic to shift on
Houston Lake Road
The Georgia Department ot
Transportation announced that
their contractor, Georgia Asphalt,
will shift traffic from the outside
lanes currently being used to
the inside lanes as construction
enters the final phases on South
Houston Lake Road in Houston
County.
The date of the shift is Monday
and the location of this traffic shift
is the area beginning south of
Bear Branch Road and continuing
north to the end of the project.
This shift, according to a
release, is to expedite the final
work on the outside shoulders,
construct the remaining driveways
and complete the sidewalk tie-ins
and wheel chair ramps.
Per the release: It is antici
pated, pending any weather or
other unforeseen delays, the time
required for this shift to be two to
three weeks. Upon completion,
it is anticipated all lanes will be
opened.
The Georgia Department of
Transportation and Georgia
Asphalt also reminds motorists
this is a Work Zone and extreme
caution is required. “Both person
nel and equipment will be on site
and safety is our first priority,” the
release reads.
Traffic Control devices such
as signs, barricades, barrels and
cones will be in place to alert
and direct motorists through the
area.
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UNIV OF GEORGIA
ATHENS GA SC6C2-OC/CQ:
3-DtGfT 306
March 21, 2007
Controversial rezoning draws
'no decision' from WR Council
By RAY LIGHTNER
Journal Staff Writer
The Warner Robins City Council
decided not to decide.
After hearing from opponents and
the Hospital Authority, the City
Council decided to take the rezon
ing request for 134.89 acres at the
southeast corner of U.S. Highway
41 and Crestview Church Road off
of Monday’s meeting agenda, tak
ing no action on the matter. City
Attorney Jim Elliot said the city has
45 days from the March 13 Planning
and Zoning Commission meeting to
take action on the request.
Unlike the planning commission
meeting, the hospital had an official
representative, Skip Philips, admin
istration at Houston Medical Center.
“At this point there is not a purchas
er for the property, ” Philips said.
“There is not an offer or a pending
$500,000 winner
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MARCH 19, n Q*
Journal/Charlotte Perkins
Melissa Camarota shows off her Jumbo Jumbo Bucks winnings, flanked by Lottery sales representative Paul
Lubeck and Yogi Food Mart owner Peter Patel.
Local hits jackpot
By CHARLOTTE PERKINS
Journal Staff Writer
Luck is nothing new to Melissa
Camarota. A 25-year-old college stu
dent and waitress, she’s had good
luck playing poker at casinos, and
over the past month, she’s been on
a roll - winning SSOO three times by
playing the Georgia Lottery’s Jumbo
Jumbo Bucks scratch-off game.
No amount of winning prepared
her for her good luck last Wednesday
at Yogi Food Mart, though.
“I was so excited I couldn’t even
talk,” she says.
Apparently, though, she did scream,
and her husband, Nick, who was with
her, says “She made noises I never
heard her make before.”
Then they hurried home, called
www.hhj news.com
Lady Eagles roll; '
HaCo baseball team ■ A*
Perry soccer "111
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contract.”
There had been an offer, from
Highway 41 East LLC, for a total
"She made noises I never
heard her make before.”
- Nick Camarota, on his wife's reaction to
winning $500,000
their family and friends, and stayed
up all night out of pure excitement.
Well, what would you do, if you
scratched some numbers off a $lO
lottery card and realized you had just
won a half million dollars?
That’s right. Camarato won the
big prize for the Jumbo Jumbo Bucks
game: $500,000.
After the federal and state tax
people took their bite in advance,
that comes to $345,000 in cash and a
FOOD - Tomatoes make I flfc
lor a great brunch dish;
restaurant report
card and more | g
selling price of $5,798,980 in October.
The land was under contract, with a
90-day option, that began Oct. 31,
2006. The buyer decided not to pur
chase and the Hospital Authority
returned his SIOO,OOO in earnest
money, per the contract, explained
hospital spokeswoman Mary Jane
Kinnas.
Philips told the city “we’re look
ing at what was planned, what the
developer wanted.”
He said having the water and
sewer connect is important.
“We have to have it so somebody
can look at it,” he said.
That confirmed residents’ and
their attorney's claim the rezoning
was only for speculation on the prop
erty. The residents of the adjacent
subdivisions hired Macon attorney
Hale Almond to act as spokesman.
See REZONING, page 6A
lot of security for a young couple just
starting off.
Camarota, who is now attending
Georgia Military college on a HOPE
scholarship, funded by the Georgia
Lottery, plans to transfer to Mercer
University in the fall, and hopes to
go from Medical School to there. Her
husband works as a finance manager
for Eddie Wiggins in Warner Robins.
Camarota says she won’t quit her
job at Cheddar’s, but she plans to
splurge a little, taking some shopping
trips with her best friend, Meghan
Chumley, and she also plans to use
some of the money to fly her sister,
brother-in-law, niece and nephew her
from Guam for a family visit.
She got the check on Monday at
See JACKPOT, page 6A
Two sections • 14 pages
Bill would
change sex
offender law
Proposes removing
school bus stops,
other provisions
By RAY LIGHTNER
Journal Staff Writer
Proposed changes to the state
sex offender law add more reg
istry requirements but provide
for local Superior Courts to
waive residency restrictions.
Senate Bill 249, sponsored
by Houston County legislative
delegation’s Sen. Cecil Staton,
R-Macon, and others includes
a provision to allow for elderly
and disabled people to peti
tion the court to be exempt
from the sex offender residency
restrictions.
According to Sara Totonchi,
Public Policy Director for
Southern Center for Human
Rights, it allows the sex offend
er to stay in nursing homes and
hospice care they otherwise
would have had to leave.
The bill also removes school
bus stops from the law, which
were added along with church
es and areas where children
congregate, during the previous
session as House Bill 1059. This
was the subject of an injunc
tion obtained by the Southern
Center for Human Rights on
behalf of nine extremely ill
individuals, including one from
Houston County, who would
have had to move or leave their
homes and nursing homes or
go to jail because they were liv
ing too close to churches.
This year’s SB 249 also
changes how the 1,000-foot
exclusionary distance is deter
mined. The distance, as pro
posed, would be measured from
the actual building, at its clos
est points, instead of the prop
erty line of the school, church,
day care, park or area where
minors congregate.
The waiver can be grant
ed if “the court finds by a
See BILL, page 6A
Raffle helps
raise money
for shelter
By RAY LIGHTNER
Journal Staff Writer
Christian Fellowship Church
won $2,800 worth of lawn care
in a raffle that raised $3,400 for
a new women and children’s
homeless shelter in Warner
Robins.
Warner Robins City Clerk
Carolyn Robbins picked out
the winning ticket from a
fishbowl at the drawing held
Thursday at City Hall in
Council Chambers. Community
Outreach Service Center direc
tor Tachunta Thomas said the
church bought SSOO in tickets,
which were $lO each.
The raffle was the idea of
Service Center board mem
ber Bill Goggin. He thanked
Josh Bloodworth from Unique
Landscaping for the idea
See RAFFLE, page 6A
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