Newspaper Page Text
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LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY,
city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville
VOLUME 137, NUMBER 165
5mS!
Thursday
August 23,2007
The Home Journal’s
FRONT
PORCH
WHER^NHGHBOI&mET
IN BRIEF
Driver Services to be
closed Sept. 1
All Department of Driver
Services, driver's licensing issu
ance and testing Customer Service
Centers, according to a release, will
be closed Sept. 1 and will reopen
Sept. 4. Standard operating hours
are Tuesday through Saturday from
9 a.m.-5 p.m. For complete loca
tion information, visit the DDS web
site at www.dds.ga.gov.
Tucker to hold school
council meeting
The Tucker Elementary School
Council will meet Sept. 18 at 5:15
p.m. in the media center. Tucker
Elementary is located at 1300
Tucker Road in Perry. For more
information, contact Principal Dr.
Kim Halstead at KHalstead@hcbe.
net or 478-988-6278.
Hall of Fame to host
collectibles show
The Georgia Sports Hall of Fame
in Macon will be hosting the Third
Annual Middle Georgia Sports
Collectibles Show Saturday.
According to a release, many of
the vendors will also be available
to evaluate collections and offer
advice on how best to sell them.
The show runs from 10 a.m.-6
p.m. Tickets are $4 for adults, $2 for
those ages 6-16 and free for chil
dren under 6. Admission includes
entry into the show and a tour of
the museum.
Quail Run sets school
council meetings
Quail Run Elementary School
has scheduled its school council
meetings for the 2007-2008 school
year. All meetings are held at 7:15
a.m. in the data room. Meetings are
set for: Sept. 18, Nov. 13, Feb. 5,
2008 and April 8, 2008.
Parent Barry Vincent is serving
as the school council chairperson
for 2007-08. Quail Run Elementary
is located at 250 Smithville Church
Road in Warner Robins. For more
information, contact Principal Dr.
Cheryl Thomas at cathomas@hcbe.
net or 478-953-0415.
BIRTHDAYS
Today
■ Brenda Phillips
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Aug. 23, 2007
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BELOW THE FOLD: County approves its repaving wish list City says no to church sign
Today
Mostly sunny
High: 100 Low: 72
hhjnews.com
Humiliating? Yes A
deterrent? Hmmm.
Weather
Web
Impact fees on the way
Perry council votes yes'
Money raised to be used on fire protection, parks
By CHARLOTTE PERKINS
Journal Staff Writer
Should those who are building
new homes and bringing new resi
dents to Perry pay part of the cost
of increasing fire protection and
recreational space?
am j
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l<<i^ ir :: _ :
ENI/Gary Harmon
Perry first baseman Ashton Jones stretches for the ball to get a Rutland runner at
first during the Lady Panthers’ loss at home Tuesday. For more, see 18.
County approves repaving 'wish list'
By RAY LIGHTNER
Journal Staff Writer
Houston County has submitted a 20-road
wish list to the state for repaving.
“We won’t get them all. We’ll probably
get four to five,” said Tommy Stalnaker,
county director of operations.
The list of 20 county roads were submitted
to the state Department of Transportation
for funding under the Local Assistance
Road Program. The road projects, below,
are listed in order of preference:
• Houston Lake Road, from Dunbar
Road to County Line Road;
• Old Perry Road from Ga. 98 to Sandy
Run Road; ’
• Henson Road, from U.S. 341 to the
dead end;
• Davidson Road from Ga. 247 to the
pavement ends;
• Doublegate Drive from Ga. 96 to
Gergia Chamber
luncheon brings
out record
crowd.
The answer is yes, as far as Perry
City Council is concerned.
Impact fees are on their way for
the Perry service area.
The city council voted on Tuesday
night to appoint a seven-member
Impact Fee Advisory Committee.
Councilman Joe Kusar, who made
Rut land
Shannon Ridge Drive;
• Water Drive from Smithville Church
Road to Cliff Howard Drive;
• Flournoy Road from Pitts Road to
Fuller Road;
• Sassy Fox Drive from and to Thompson
Mill Road;
• Gilchrist Drive from Green Street to
Foxfire Drive;
• Wimberly Road from U.S. 341 to the
pavement ends
• Heather Glen Boulevard from Sandefur
Road to Horseshoe Bend Boulevard;
• Jubilee Circle from Peachblossom Road
to Peachtree Boulevard;
• Cliff Howurd Drive from Morning Dove
Lane to Dove Cove;
• Habersham Lane from Hampton Way
to dead end;
• Falcon Crest from and to
See REP A VING, page 6A
www.hhjnews.com
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SPORTS: NorttaMe Hanks
StockirMge; HoCo wins but
Perrv Ms; local golf
ers win their flights 1Q
at tourney Mope. | D
the motion, included the require
ment, under state law, that the
committee would have at least 40
percent of its membership from
development fields. In other words,
three of the seven must be from the
building, development or real estate
industries
As proposed by Mike Beecham,
Perry’s director of community devel-
Warner Robins says it
plans to cut lax rale
By RAY LIGHTNER
Journal Staff Writer
Warner Robins plans on
lowering its tax rate.
The City Council voted
to advertise the lowering
of the millage rate 0.003
mills. The council will vote
later on at a public hearing
to actually lower the rate
from 9.257 mills to 9.254
mills.
“It’s always a privilege
to announce a reduction
in taxes, especial dur
ing an election year,” said
Councilman Dean Cowart.
“Thank you, and city
staff,” Cowart added to
Mayor Donald Walker.
The millage is to be set
at the rollback rate of
9.254 mills, which is the
rate where the city report
edly can bring in the same
amount of money as last
year, without raising taxes.
Walker said the millage
rate is based on the tax
digest of $1,392,855,359 for
2007. The 2006 city tax
digest was $1,289,585,375.
The increase is attribut
ed to the continued growth
City: No to church sign
By RA Y LIGHTNER
Journal Staff Writer
Warner Robins City Council said no to a sign
request from Central Baptist Church.
The church proposed a 300-square foot sign. The
sign, 6-feet high and 50-feet long, would be brick
between two 6-foot, 10-inch pillars, with 1-foot high
letters, and ground level lighting.
It was proposed for the corner of Lake Joy Road
and Russell Parkway and set back from the roadway
more than 65 feet off Russell and more than 25 feet
off Lake Joy Road.
The sign was rejected because it exceeds the 36-sqa
ure-foot maximum in the Russell Parkway Overlay
District. “We held CVS to it,” said councilman Doug
McDowell. “I know it’s a church, but if we start
making exceptions, we’ll have to keep making excep
tions.”
Mayor Donald Walker said, “the overlay is a guide
line. We have made exceptions. The goal was to have
something that looked nice as the entrance to the city.
I’m gonna vote for it.”
Councilman Dean Cowart said the overly district
was in answer to concerns about “businesses with a
hodge-podge of signs. I have trouble saying no to a
church,” he said.
Cowart also noted the entranceway is 500 feet away
from the sign, and the church owned the land before
the overlay district was approved.
“I don’t have trouble saying no to a church,”
Councilman Clifford Holmes said. “We said no once. I
don’t care who comes in here.”
Councilman John Havrilla said the church, which
has entrances off both roads, could have two 36-
square foot monument signs by the entrances.
See SIGN, page 6A
Two sections • 20 pages
opment, the committee would review
the costs of proposed improvements
and make recommendations for fees
to be paid. All funds raised through
impact fees will be used for fire pro
tection and parks.
In other business, the city began
discussion of changes to planned
unity development regulations.
See FEES, page 6A
of the city through annexa
tions. While cutting the tax
rate, the city expects to
bring in about 8 percent
more revenue than last
year.
The city council also
approved taking up to sl.l
million out of the unobli
gated general fund balance
to cover the increase in
contribution to the group
health fund for the previ
ous fiscal year, which ended
in June.
“We are $624,000 in
the red today,” Walker
explained. “It could go
higher because more bills
are still coming in.”
City Councilman Terry
Horton said, “I knew we’d
have to transfer some
money to cover expenses
from last year.”
City Comptroller Bill
Harte explained, “there is
a pretty significant defi
ciency, but only the money
needed to balance out the
financial report will be
moved over.”
Walker said there were
See jR.4 TE, page 6A
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