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_g- Houston County begins taking applications
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Collins: He plans on applying - page 8B 1
INSIDE: Westfield names Deems as Head of School; Man indicted for murder; PD has suspect In robbery; Mpre.
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LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON
GU V OF PERRY. Cri’V OF WARNER ROBINS AND WmStr^W
Volume 137, Number 201
Santa’s baby
Perry man boasts 50,000 lights ... and counting
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ENI/Gary Harmon
Jackson and Emma Algoe tell Santa, alias Leroy Bennett, what they would like for Christmas.
By DON MONCRIEF
Journal Managing Editor
Leroy Bennett’s fam
ily members never put
up Christmas lights ...
or at least the way he puts up
Christmas lights. That trans
lates to: a daughter that lives on
one side of his 1316 Smoak Ave.
address in Perry, a son that lives
three houses down and a grand
son that lives on the other side
of him.
In their households combined
there are three granddaughters,
two grandsons and a great grand
daughter. Add in spouses and the
total comes out to somewhere in
Band of the U.S. Air Force Reserve to perform free holiday concert
Special to the Journal
The Band of the U.S. Air Force Reserve is scheduled
to perform a free holiday concert at the Museum of
Aviation Thursday at 7 p.m.
This annual event, according to a release, fea
tures songs from the band’s “Happy Holidays” series,
including a mixture of classic holiday carols, novelty
segments and sing-alongs.
PERIODICAL 500
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Georgia Newspaper Project
Main Library
University of Georgia
ATHENS GA 30602
ALL FOR ADC 301
Dec. 12-14,2007
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the neighborhood - enough to
prompt him to say they ought to
just go ahead and name the loca
tion “Bennett St.” - of 11 family
members. Eleven family mem
bers. Zero Christmas lights.
Why no Christmas lights?
Well, there’s a good explana
tion for that actually: They’re too
busy helping him put up his, he
joked. His translates this year to
an estimated 50,000 lights, plus
the assorted sundry of religious
items - him describing himself as
a religious man - such as angels
and a manger scene.
It all started around 10 years
ago, he said, when they - he and
wife Retha, who joked nothing
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BIRTHDAYS
Dec. 12
■ Lauren Kennedy (Happy
Sweet 16!)
■ Tim Cannon
■ Conchita Swift
Dec. 13
■ Dale Waite
■ Kathy Crenshaw
■ Kenny Roberts
E-mail birthdays to:
hhj@eVansnewspapers.
com or
donm@evansnewspapers.
com. Mail to: 1210
Washington St., Perry
31069 attn: Don Moncrief.
Or, call 987-1823, Ext. 231.
Wednesday-Friday, December 12-14, 2007
about her better show up in the
paper (or at least it’s hoped it
was a joke) - moved from their
country home on the outskirts of
town.
“I just enjoy doing it,” he said.
“I enjoy putting them up. People
enjoy looking at them ... children
and adults.”
He also dresses up as Santa
Claus for the part - was Santa
Claus for the Perry parade this
year and has gone to Vienna peri
odically to entertain pre-k chil
dren on invitation from teachers
- although not as much as he
used to.
“My knees,” he explained,
See SANTA, page iA
The concert is free, open to the public and will be
held in the museum’s “Century of Flight Hangar.”
Doors open at 6 p.m., and seating is limited.
“Throughout this past year, the band has liter
ally been around the world entertaining our deployed
troops on five continents,” said Maj. Chad Steffey,
music director and band commander. “We’re thrilled
to be back home for the holidays and share this gift of
music with our friends and family of Middle Georgia.”
This week in HHJ history:
50 years ago:
Man’s worst nightmare? You decide. The state extension service, and local county extension agent, announces
a “kitchen improvement contest", the winner of which gets a new “electric" washing machine. Upon announcement,
800 farm women reportedly “get busy" renovating their homes. Here's a reminder in the 1947 paper plenty - with
the apparent resurgence in popularity of motorscooters over the past few years - appropriate today. Operators are
reminded by state and local officials they are not “play things. State law requires any power-cycle, whether it be a
motorized bike or a motorscooter, must be licensed in the same manner required for a motorcycle.”
30 years ago:
It’s official. Farmers go on strike and vow to stay on strike until their demands for 100 percent parity are met by
Congress. Locally, farmers vow a boycott unless local communities close their doors that Wednesday as a show
of support for the farmers. That in turn results in a meeeting of about 100 merchants -at least in Perry - voting to
do just that for “two hours." But, State Strike Coordinator Tommy Kersey, whose farm was/is between Perry and
Unadilla says: “Two hours isn't enough to satisfy us. We feel like merchants that we support all year can sacrifice
one day to show their full support of us in our time of need."
20 years ago:
Houston County District Attorney Theron Finlayson announced he will seek the death penalty for Tyrone Tharpe,
accused of murdering Perry High School student Carla Ragin. He cites two reasons for his decision: One, the mur
der was committed during the act of burglary and two, it was done “outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible dr inhu
man in that it involved torture, depravity of mind or an aggravated battery to the victim.”
In Sports, the 3-point shot makes its appearance in basketball. Almost immediately, Perry’s girls find out - the
hard way - what it’s capable of doing. They are leading Twiggs County by seven when one of its players hits two
straight sparking a rally.
- Compiled by Don Moncrief *
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‘ ENI/Gary Harmon
Brandon Jordan, left, and Marques Ivory celebrate as the clock
runs out in Northside’s Georgia Dome win over Tucker in the
Georgia High School Association’s Class AAAA semifinals.
NDOMEITABLE
By MATTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
There’s a 21-point deficit on
the scoreboard against you. The
total yardage differential is 285
to 61 in favor of the other team.
You’ve even given up seven points
on a turnover.
Desperate times do call for des
perate measures, right?
“No, not a desperation move
at all,” said Northside High head
coach Conrad Nix after the Eagles
stormed back from that 21-point
deficit at halftime to beat Tucker
High 31-28 Friday in the GHSA
Class AAAA semifinals (setting,
of course, the Atlanta Georgia
Dome).
The “not a desperation move”
was when senior quarterback
Marques Ivory took the field to
start the second half. Ivory had
not played since suffering a bro
ken leg at Upson-Lee on Oct. 19.
Ivory didn’t look like a quar
terback who was on crutches
with a large cast at the end of
one of his legs only days before
Friday’s kick-off.
“I had a lot of adrenaline keep
ing me going,” said Ivory on his
11-for-16, 298-yard and three
touchdown performance. “I
didn’t worry about (rust). I was
pretty confident going into the
situation. I wasn’t worried about
it at all.”
Ivory was on the practice field
the previous Monday focusing
mainly on agility drills, and then
later in the week it was back to
"We put four years Into this, and we’re
not about to let It slip out of our hands that
easily. We were supposed to grab a hold of
these guys and not let them go.”
- Nortbside Senior Offensive Tackle Jerome Bibbins
www.hhjnews.com
INSIDE: More on the
GAME AND PLENTY OF
PICS
regular football drills. He said he
kept icing and wrapping his once
injured area prior to the game.
“I planned on using him some
in the first half, but we never
had the right opportunity,” said
Nix. “I just decided to wait until
the second half and start every
thing over fresh.
“I’m very, very thankful and
proud for him. Praise God that
he was well and able to contrib
ute.”
But a player coming off a seri
ous injury would be a sure target
for an opposing defense. Ivory,
however, didn’t even have to
worry about taking any shots to
the leg because Tucker never got
close to him.
“They did great all night,”
said Ivory about the Eagle offen
sive line. “They knew I had to
have time, and they put it in
their hearts to do it.”
“We are going to do that every
day. It doesn’t matter who’s in
there,” said senior offensive tack
le Jerome Bibbins. “You could
put coach Nix back there and
we’re going to block for him.
“(Ivory’s return) put a fire
under us we never had before.
He’s one of those guys that’s a
leader on our team. That guy
See DOME, page 6B
Know someone or an agency that
could use a pat on the back? Send your
“Kudos" to hhj@evansnewspapers.com.
Quote me on that ...
“As farmers we are excited
that we are once again being
called upon to help the nation
move toward energy indepen
dence. And we are up to the
challenge!”
- American Corn Growers
Association President Keith
Bolin, on last week ’s pas
sage of sweeping energy leg
islation by the U.S. House of
Representatives