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Volume 137, Number 204
IMCinCi ® Local: Police take a ‘byte’ out of crime - bust 3 in burglary ■ Sports: Bear Brawl Day 1 belongs to
INvIUEi the ladies ■ Lifestyle: ‘Rebuilding Together’ ■ School: HCBOE to offer free adult computer classes
Joined at the ‘lip’
Special bond between Houston County HS
coaches, student was love at first bite'
... He laughs. Joiner laughs. In fact the whole morning can be summed up with a jab, a
laugh, a counter-attack and another laugh. Or "laughs" as Joiner is seldom not the center of
attention and always thriving in it - same as for the coaches on his behalf...
By DON MONCRIEF
Journal Managing Editor
It's a daily celebrity roast.
That best describes the relationship Ryan Joiner has with the coaches of Houston County.
When you strip it down to its simplest form, when you can get them to be serious about each other long enough - to stop
picking on each other for just one second (and that's all the reprieve you'll get) - it is in reality nothing short of pure love. They are
nothing less than a'second father and/or mother to him and he their son.
"They're just really a great bunch of guys... role
(at birth) has him confined. He describes him
and wouldn't go away," he says." They kind of A
"If it wasn't for them (however), he adds, A
IT
IwlrlT ilWllinMrTyf' ' ' IHiwTUmI ! \
■ - ‘ ,$ s ’■?■ i V' : &:r '&
Ryan Joiner sits
in one of his most
favorite spots
- almost dead cen- M
ter of the room in the ™
Houston County High
School coaches’ office.
The 21-year-old who j
has cerebral palsy has I
become the favorite ]
son of not only the
coaches but the entire
school - not to mention
many in the community.
Journal/Don Moncrief
PERIODICAL 500
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Georaia Newspaper Project
Man Library
University of Georgia
ATHENS GA 30602
ALL FOR ADC 301
Dec. 22, 2007
Si r\ i.\(, Houston Cot x n Sinci- , IS7O
LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY,
CITY OF PERRY, CITY OF WARNER ROBINS AND CITY OF CENTERVILLE
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BIRTHDAYS
•
Dec. 20
s Cody Randles (Happy
third birthday!)
Dec. 21
r Robert Minter
■' Bobby Tuggle
Dec. 22
Sarah Hawk
■ Danielle Ray
Dec. 23
■ Leslie Searcy
fßill Mitchell
Dec. 24
Travis Capps
■ Mike Ross
Brenda Froehlich
Stacey Frazier
Dec. 26
* Alvyn Pope
■I terry Mobley
Saturday, December 22, 2007
models," Joiner, at age 21, says from the wheelchair cerebral palsy
self as being like a stray cat."l just sort of showed up one day
took me in."
« And if you watch and listen for just a short period of
time you'll see the feelings are more than mutual.
"He's a person that every morning when we
■ get here he's who we're looking for," says girls
basketball and soccer coach Sid Baxley ."If
he's not here somebody will mention it:'Ryan's
not here today' or 'Ryan's going to be late.'
"Sometimes I feel like if I don't come in
nobody's going to miss me. But he’s one that's
always missed when he's not here."
Adds girls head volleyball coach and
assistant boys soccer coach Tony Jones:
"I look forward to seeing him in
here. If I'm having a bad
This week in HHJ history:
60 years ago:
Like sweet potatoes? Well, you definitely would have liked them in 1947. Apparently'a lot of farmers did too as
the money reportedly coming from the crop in the state of Georgia that year, accord ng to marketing specialists of
the Agricultural Extension Service, was in excess of $15,000,000. Remember-when the world wasn’t so politically
correct? Do you think this ad from the Junior Chamber of Commerce would fly today 7 Merry Christmas and have
a “gay holiday season.”
30 years ago:
According to a survey, Houston County made “sizeable” gains during a five-year period beginning with 1972.
According to the Standard Rate and Data Service, the “volume of retail business in the local area, a principle indi
cator of business vitality, was relatively strong.” The total rise during the five-year period was 62 percent. The U.S.
rise was 41 percent and the state of Georgia rise was 50 percent. In other news, two sites were reportedly offered
in the Warner Robins area to Miller Brewery for their consideration in locating an industrial piant in the local area.
10 years ago:
Democrats, among them two from Houston County - Larry Walker and Sonny Perdue - pledge to pass and
sign into law an income tax cut and abolish parole during the upcoming Georgia General Assembly. Walker also
said he was particularly pleased with proposed legislation to create the Children’s Health Insurance Program,
designed, according to the newspaper report, to provide uninsured Georgia youths with healthcare coverage.
In Sports, the Perry basketball team increases its record to 8-0 while winning the annual Bank of Gray Holiday
Classic held at Jones County High School.
- Compiled by Don Moncrief
morning Ryan will
always pick me up."
Like the time a couple
jj of years ago when
■V you dressed up as
Spongebob Squarepants
for Spirit Day?
"He's never let me live it
down," Jones laughs,"That's how he
greeted me every day for about a
year."
The love is there. You can't help
but see it. If you listen between
the barbs, you can't help but
feel it. But this mushy stuff,
well it's just not them. To heap
praise (and after all, Jones does
equate Joiner to a tape recorder
...a"warped"tape recorder) on the
other is like giving your playbook
to the other coach. It just doesn't
happen.
To go back to the beginning,
this all started when Joiner was
in middle school at Feagin Mill
Middle School.
"He just kind of showed up,"
- the original stray cat visit, says
J.D. Sessums, who was the school’s
athletic director at the time and
now works at Houston County
HS."And we kind of included him
in everything as one of us. He'd
attend all the athletic events. He
was a big motivator for us.
"The strange thing is," he adds,
"and we've talked about this, is
we kind of came in together, and
(with Joiner being in his senior
year and Sessums getting ready to
retire 'for real,' this time, he kids, as
he's done it once before),
See BOND, page 8A
Perry PD to receive S6IK
By CHARLOTTE
PERKINS
Journal Staff Writer
Perry Director of Public
Safety George Potter had
good news earlier this week,
when the U.S. Congress
passed a budget that includ
ed a little present for the
Perry Police Department
just in time for the holidays.
The budget has now been
signed by President George
W. Bush, and the $61,000 for
the Perry Police Department
is be used, Potter said, to
fit nine more police vehicles
with mobile data terminals,
Perry center grants Christmas wishes
By DON MONCRIEF
Journal Managing Editor
It could be a toss up as to
who made who’s Christmas
a better experience. Three
needy children in the local
community or the employ
ees of the McEver Probation
Detention Center in Perry.
On one hand, these chil
dren, said Warden Belinda
PVO helps needy
pi' ■ * '
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Joumal C harlotte Perkins
Perry Volunteer Outreach volunteers get ready to dis
tribute boxes of food to 400 needy families in the South
Houston area. The boxes included canned goods and
cooking staples, with extra goodies for families with
children. The team worked all day Friday handing out
the boxes along with packages of frozen chicken. From
left, Perry City Councilman Riley Hunt, Boy Scout Aaron
Hankins, Victoria Hankins, Carrie Honican and Shaun
Hankins.
“Where neigh hors meet
an Evans Family Newspaper)
www.hhjnews.com
thanks to the efforts of U.S.
Rep. Jim Marshall.
“Rep. Marshall called our
office two years ago and
asked if there was anything
we needed in the way of
communications,” Potter
explained. “These funds
come under Homeland
Security.”
What’s a mobile data ter
minal?
Something that will help
protect the innocent, help
nab the guilty or even save a
person in danger. *
An MDT, as the small
See RECEIVE, page jA
Davis, “weren’t expecting
to receive anything without
assistance.”
On the other, the 67
employees, 67 employees
who work 12-hour shifts
- and for $2 an hour (not
really - that was Davis’ obvi
ous sense of humor com
ing to the forefront) - don’t
See WISHES, page $A
1 l\ A)
Know someone or an agency that
could use a pat on the back? Send your
“Kudos" to hhj@evansnewspapers.
com.
Quote me on that ...
“A 10 percent reduction trans
lates to 230 million gallons a day.
Well, I'm here to report that not only
did we meet that goal - we exceed
ed it. We have reduced water use
by nearly 350 million gallons a day.
This is enough water to supply 1.7
million Georgia households every
day.”
- Gov. Sonny Perdue, on water
conservation goals