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HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
Munsimt daily .Ijimrual
Perry Office
1210 Washington St.
P.O. Box 1910
Perry, GA 31069
(478) 987-1823
See us online at
www.hhjnews.com
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pp©
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POSTMASTER: Send address
changes to: P.O. Box 1910. Perry,
GA 31069
The Houston Daily Journal. A peri
odical, mailed (ISSN 1526-7393)
dt Perry, Ga., is published Tuesday
through Saturday for $62 per year
by Evans Newspapers Inc.. 1210
Washington St., Perry, GA31069;
(478) 987-1823 Fax (478) 988-1181.
Not published Thanksgiving and
Christmas.
Office Hours:
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8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through
Friday.
NEWS TIPS:
Call (478) 987-1823 ext. 231
Newsroom Fax: (478) 988-1181
Managing editor:
■ Don Moncrief,
987-1823, Ext. 231;
donm @ evansnewspapers.com
Lifestyle/Food editor:
■ Charlotte Perkins,
987-1823, Ext. 234;
cperkins@evansnewspapers.com
Staff writers:
■ Ray Lightner,
987-1823, Ext. 239;
rlightner@evansnewspapers.com
Photographer:
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987-1823, Ext. 229;
gharmon @ evansnewspapers.com
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■ Matthew Brown,
987-1823. Ext. 237;
mbrown @ evansnewspapers.com
Presentation editor:
■ James Tidwell,
987-1823, Ext. 239
jtidwell @ evansnewspapers.com
Corrections:
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accuracy, and will print a correction
or clarification when one is in order.
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lisher shall not be liable for damages
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beyond the amount paid for the
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no liability for non-insertion of any
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paid for such advertisement.
This newspaper is a
member of
The Georgia Press Association,
The National Newspaper
Association and
The Associated Press
Georgia tax reform efforts center on exemptions
ATLANTA - Even those
who aren’t fans of House
Speaker Glenn Richardson’s
plans to overhaul the state’s
tax structures concede that
he’s right on one count:
There are too many exemp
tions to the state sales tax
and most should be elimi
nated.
Currently, the list of sever
al dozen exemptions sprawl
over 9,000 words in the state
tax code. Everything from
sugar bought by some bee
keepers to crab bait is given
a free pass.
Richardson, R-Hiram,
wants to repeal a good deal
of the exemptions to bank
roll his plan to do away with
property taxes and, perhaps,
reform the state income tax.
But even he admits there
will still need to be some
exceptions to the law, and
how many of those exemp
tions are preserved could
decide just how far the
reform goes.
The exemptions cost the
state billions of dollars each
year, according to a report
prepared last year by the
Fiscal Research Center at
Georgia State University’s
Andrew Young School of
- Policy Studies.
According to the report,
Georgia could have taken
in an additional $9.8 billion
in 2004, the year the study
focused on.
That’s nearly twice the
$5.2 billion that the state
made from the sales tax in
the fiscal year that ended
June 30, 2005.
Richardson’s plan, which
he said in a recent interview
is still taking shape, would
do away with many of them.
To soothe the pain of one
of the exemptions likely to
come to an end - the excep
tion for food - Richardson
Aged Hand-cut
Steaks
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YOUR WEATHER TEAM!
f TODAY’S Jll
Today's Weather
Local 5-Day Forecast
Tue
7/31
94/70
Partly cloudy. Highs
in the mid 90s and
lows in the low 70s.
Sunrise Sunset
6:49 AM 8:33 PM
93/72
Sun and clouds
mixed with a slight
chance of thunder
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ter.
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towanWf/f'
...A ..x.1.,,,,
Georgia At A Glance
\ 90/70
Warner Robins
) . IvX
I 93/7K..X "X. f
1 / Valdosta fa
\jJ "Xx • 90/71 C'
* J
Area Cities
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El
Albany 93 73 t-storm
Athens 91 71 sunny
Atlanta 90 70 mst sunny
Augusta 92 73 mst sunny
Bainbridge 97 76 t-storm
Brunswick 87 76 t-storm
Cartersville 92 70 mst sunny
Chattanooga,TN 88 -69 mst sunny
Columbus 92 74 t-storm
Cordele 94 73 t-storm
National Cities
[city
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Atlanta 90 70 mst sunny
Boston 86 65 pt sunny
Chicago 89 68 sunny
Dallas 89 76 t-storm
Denver 90 63 mst sunny
©2005 American Profile Hometown Content Service
said the state would create a
refundable tax credit equal
to estimates of how much
the tax on groceries would
cost a middle-income family.
As it’s currently written,
Richardson said, a visitor
driving through Georgia can
stop by a store, by a Twinkie
and not pay sales tax on it.
“That’s ridiculous,” he
said.
The proposal also envi
sions extending the sales
tax to services, something
Richardson and others say is
essential to dealing with the
changing economy.
Richardson made clear he
doesn’t think that every sin
gle exemption to the tax code
should be dumped. Some,
he said, just make sense or
should be preserved.
The raw goods used for
manufacturing and agricul
ture, for example, should
probably continue to enjoy
sheltering from the sales
tax, as should government
transactions.
“It kind of makes no sense
(to tax government purchas
es),” Richardson said. “We’re
trading money.”
The need to do away with
some exemptions while
keeping others gets no argu
ment from Alan Essig, exec
utive director of the Georgia
Budget and Policy Institute,
a progressive, non-partisan
think tank based in Atlanta.
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Thu
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Slight chance of a
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Sunrise Sunset
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Dalton 92 70 mst sunny
Dillard 84 62 mst sunny
Dublin 93 69 t-storm
Duluth 89 70 mst sunny
Gainesville 89 73 mst sunny
Helen 89 67 mst sunny
Lagrange 92 71 mst sunny
Macon 93 71 t-storm
Marietta 89 70 mst sunny
Milledgeville 92 70 mst sunny
[Cit7
Houston 92 76 t-storm
LOs Angeles 79 65 pt sunny
'Miami 89 77 t-storfri
Minneapolis 92 72 sunny
New York 88 71 sunny
“Some exemptions make
economic sense to have,”
he said. “Some exemptions
make policy sense to have....
We just need to get rid of the
exemptions that don’t make
economic or policy sense.”
Essig, though, pointed out
that two of the exemptions
likely to remain, those for
government transactions
and materials for manu
facturing, make up a large
chunk of the money lost to
tax exceptions.
Governments saved $1.9
billion through their sales
tax exemptions in 2004,
according to the Georgia
State study. The exemption
on manufacturing materials
amounted to almost $2.8 bil
lion.
And if the state creates a
tax on services, there will
likely need to be exemptions
for some of those, as well.
Essig cautions against
moving too quickly on tax
reform.
“The problem is, we’re
actually getting ahead of
ourselves,” he said.
The state needs to first
start generating a regular
report on how much it gets
from which taxes and how
much it loses from each of
the exemptions, Essig said.
“We don’t even have the
right information to be talk
ing about this stuff yet,” he
said.
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STATE AND REGION
Meteorologist
Jsrry Mathewson
•Uliuie Mltlilte Qu«ni»
Turn* let Hew**
■
Fri
8/3
89/70
Slight chance of a
thunderstorm.
Sunrise Sunset
6:50 AM 8:31 PM
Moon Phases
m m
Full
Jul 30
• «
New
Aug 12
UV Index
Tue 7/31 |J Extreme
Wed 8/1 H Very High
Thu 8/2 ■ Extreme
Fri 8/3 jjj Extreme
Sat 8/4 ■ Extreme
The UV Index is measured on a 0-11
number scale, with a higher UV Index
showing the need for greater skin pro
tection o *»■ mm 1'
[City
HI Lo Cond.
Peachtree City 90 67 mst sunny
Perry 93 72 t-storm
Rome 95 72 sunny
Savannah 90 72 t-storm
St. Simons Islandß7 76 t-storm
Statesboro 91 71 t-storm
Thomasville 93 73 t-storm
Valdosta 90 71 t-storm
Warner Robins 93 70 t-storm
Waycross 91 71 t-storm
[city
Hi Lo Cond.
Phoenix 100 83 t-storm
San Francisco 80 58 pt sunny
Seattle 77 57 sunny
St. Louis 91 71 sunny
Washington, DC 89 72 sunny
He also questions
Richardson’s ultimate goal
of getting rid of the current
way the governments bring
in money, particularly by
abolishing virtually all local
property taxes.
“Do we need to blow up
the tax system or reform the
tax system?” he asked.
For his part, Richardson
says switching to a sales
tax, which affects every
Georgian, is fairer than rely
ing on a tax paid only by
those who own property.
“Our plan is not to raise
more money, but to raise
about the same thing, but to
have the largest number of
people paying the smallest
rate possible,” he said.
The need for some exemp
tions seems to have taken
the steam out of an idea to
tax all services and all sales,
something that could allow
the state to create a flat
income tax of 4 percent.
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Sat
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Slight chance of a
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Sunrise Sunset
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Last
Aug 5
First
Aug 20
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1-75 I*« 138 • 987-8877 49983
Please contact the City of Warner Robins,
Department of Community Development to see
if you qualify for a U.S. Department of HUD
funded low (0% to 3%) interest rate loan
(Certain income restrictions apply-Ma.ximum income ranges from
$32,950f0r a single person to $62,150f0r a family of 8)
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or call 929-1140 for more details.
Obituaries
OLLIE MADDOX
MACON - Ollie I Maddox, Jr. 80, died in Macon Wednesday.
Graveside services were held Sunday at
Antioch Methodist Church Cemetery
near Cochran. Born in Fitzgerald, and
a WW II Army Veteran, he was retired
from Paragon Packaging Company.
Survivors include his children, David
Maddox, Cheryl Schmoeger, Glenn
Maddox, Derrell Boatner, Jerrell
Boatner, Deborah Causey, Camellia
Layton, Connie Ray and Belinda Ray. He was preceded in
death by a daughter, Patricia Hernandez. Please sign the
online register at watsonhunt.com.
SHIRLEY JAMES POWELL
WARNER ROBINS - Shirley James Powell, 82, died
Sunday. Graveside services will be held today at 11 a.m.
at Big Creek Baptist Church in Coolidge with Tim Robson
officiating. Go to www.mcculloughfh.com to sign the Online
Registry for the family McCullough Funeral Home has
charge of arrangements. r
SHIRLEY LOUISE BUNN
WARNER ROBINS - Shirley Louise Bunn, 60, passed
away Thursday. Services were held Sunday in the chapel
of McCullough Funeral Home with entombment follow
ing in Parkway Memorial Gardens Mausoleum. Memorial
donations may be made to the American Cancer Society 804
Cheriy Street Ste. A, Macon, GA 31201.
Colleges take issue with rank
ATHENS (MNS) - The
University of Georgia touts
its U.S. News & World
Report best colleges ranking
- 60th among all schools in
the country and 21st among
public schools - but some
students and college leaders
say the numbers shouldn’t
be taken seriously.
Administrators from some
of the nation’s liberal arts
colleges have started raising
their voices against the way
U.S. News judges schools’
academic programs and,
until the publisher makes a
change, are boycotting part
of the ranking system.
But U.S. News is the most
consistent and long-run
ning college rating system,
so UGA officials continue to
cite the university’s rank
ing, said Nancy McDuff,
associate vice president for
admissions and enrollment
management. “It’s part of
what we use to get our name
out there,” she said.
U.S. News is expected to
release its 2008 college rank
ings in a couple of weeks.
But dozens of private lib
eral arts colleges, including
Wesleyan College in Macoy
and Eckerd College in St.
Petersburg, Fla. - whose
president, Donald Eastman,
used to be a top administra
tor at UGA - have joined an
organized boycott of a large
section of the magazine’s
rankings.
Wesleyan’s president,
Ruth Knox, a graduate of
UGA’s School of Law, recent
ly announced that she sup
ports the boycott along with
other college administrators
who oppose the magazine’s
peer assessment section.
The section, based on col
lege and university officials’
judgments of the other uni
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versities on the list, inaccu
rately represents the qual
ity of a school’s programs,
faculty and students, Knox
and other liberal arts college
presidents have said.
Knox wants the rating
system to consider factors
like small class size, student
engagement and graduates’
career successes, said college
spokeswoman Susan Welsh.
“U.S. News is not reflec
tive of those types of (fac
tors),” Welsh said.
U.S. News ranked
Wesleyan in the third tier
of liberal arts colleges, but
the college has received
high scores in some catego
ries such as racial diversity
and small class size. Schools
that receive a higher rank
ing, based only on other col
lege leaders’ opinions, also
often have more name rec
ognition because their mar
keting budgets are larger,
Welsh said. Wesleyan, along
with other colleges, will stop
printing its rankings in new
publications and downplay
the rankings in other mate
rials it provides to prospec
tive students, she said.
Despite increasing protests
and boycotts from some col
lege presidents, U.S. News
plans to continue publishing
the rankings in the same
way, said magazine spokes
woman Cynthia Powell.
UGA’s rank in U.S. News
& World Report top 100 col
leges made no difference to
Brian Levy, who, like many
college-bound Georgians,
knew he wanted an educa
tion at Georgia.
“Publications like U.S.
News & World Report don’t
give you that perspective,”
she said. “(But) it’s the best
standard we have, so we use
it.”
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