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Volume 138. Number 001
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IMCinCi Sports: ur All-Houston County football team. Also, Lady Hornets win fourth straight in basketball, Jones County
I|HWI UCi tourney wrap and J.B. Hawkins and Powerade results. More. Food: 246 varieties but the choice is Cheddar. More.
O'Neal ready to go to bat for trauma care
As Georgia General Assembly nears, local representative still pondering controversial tax reform
By CHARLOTTE
PERKINS
Journal Staff Writer
The Georgia General
Assembly won’t convene
until Jan. 14, but Rep. Larry
O’Neal, who is Chairman of
the powerful House Ways
and Means Committee, will
be in Atlanta for countless
meetings before that and
he’s got some big issues on
his mind.
Those are vital issues for
everyday Georgians, because
whatever may be happening
in Washington, what hap
pens in Atlanta starting in
January each year can often
make a bigger difference in
our quality of life and our
finances.
It could even be a matter
of life and death.
That’s no exaggeration
when it comes to Georgia’s
trauma care system, which
is currently at the bottom of
the pile of states.
Trauma care isn’t just
emergency room care. It’s
what you need for the kind
of massive, life-threaten
ing injuries that come from
car crashes, explosions and
shootings.
That’s when every second
of response time counts, and
the “golden hour”, that first
60 minutes after a traumat
ic injury, can make the life
or death difference, accord
ing to O’Neal.
The failure of Georgia’s
system isn’t in the big cities,
where certified trauma cen
ters are located, but in the
southern part of the state,
Chambers to publish school brochure
Special to the Journal
The Warner Robins Area Chamber of
Commerce, in partnership with the Perry
Area Chamber of Commerce, announced
this week the publication of a Houston
County Schools Brochure.
The initial announcement was made
at the December board meeting of the
Warner Robins Area Chamber by Kathy
Balletto, the Chamber’s Vice Chairman
for Educational Affairs.
The full-color brochure is the result,
according to a release, of a
for the Educational Affairs Committee.
The purpose of the brochure, which
originated with a goal set at the Chamber’s
2006 Goals Conference, is to “provide a
powerful vehicle for the private sector in
Houston County to proudly promote the
accomplishments of the Houston County
Public Schools.”
Said Balletto: “Year in and year out,
PERIODICAL 500
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Mar. Library
University of Georgia
ATHBSJS GA 30602
ALL FOR ADC 301
January 2,2008
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LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY,
CITY OF PERRY, CITY OF WARNER ROBINS AND CITY OF CENTERVILLE
O'NEAL
which has vast rural areas
without major medical cen
ters.
In Georgia, accord
ing to the Department of
Transportation, you are four
times more likely to die if
you suffer traumatic inju
ries in a car accident-while
in a rural area than in an
urban area, simply because
of the distance to the near
est trauma center.
In practical terms, that
means that if you’re on I
-16 or 1-75, headed south
of Houston County toward
the Georgia Coast or the
Florida line, you’ll be driv
ing through a substantial
area that simply doesn’t
have good enough access to
trauma care.
Even with ambulances
stocked with life-sustaining
equipment and medically
equipped helicopters, your
odds of survival are nowhere
nearly as good as they would
be if you were near Atlanta,
Macon, Savannah, Augusta
or another metropolitan
"Year in amt year out, our
schools shine academically
and athletically, as well as in
other endeavors. Our Board of
Education does a great job at
promoting their own excellence,
but we felt that we could really
help their efforts by lending a
private-sector voice to these
efforts.”
- Warner Robins Area Chamber Vice
Chairmanfor Educational Affairs
Kathy Balletto
our schools shine academically and
See BROCHURE, page SA
BIRTHDAYS
■ Jan. 2
Bryca Patton A
Nj Otis Smith
•;
Peyton Josey
aj Jeff Spires
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e-mail birthdays to:
hhj®evansnewspapers.eom
or donm@ovansnewspap*rs.
4?pni Mail to: 1210 Washington
St., Perry 31069 att»: Don
Monoriel. Or, calf 987-1823,
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■
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
area.
A trauma center, O’Neal
points out, is not just an
emergency room. To be des
ignated a trauma center, a
hospital - such as Macon’s
Medical Center of Central
Georgia or Grady Memorial
in Atlanta, must have medi
cal staff, including trauma
surgeons, ready 24 hours
a day, and must have spe
cialized equipment as well.
Maintaining round-the-clock
trauma services has simply
become too expensive for
some hospitals.
At this point, only 15 of
the states 152 hospitals are
certified trauma centers.
O’Neal has a long
standing interest in see
ing Georgia’s trauma cen
ter system improved, and
knows it’s going to have to
be funded;
He says that following
countless hearings with
medical professionals and
other stakeholders, the
money needed to correct
the problem by bringing
in state funds, is likely to
be around SBS million, and
proposals will probably be
on the floor for raising that
money through a variety of
sources.
One source of income is
likolv to be “Super Speeders”
- people caught driving at
speeds far over the speed
limit, who would face much
larger fines.
Another source could be
an additional tag fee of $5
which would spread the cost
out among all drivers.
Tliis week in HHJ history: .
50 years ago:
Perry's undefeated junior varsity team is pictured (no text and no word on what their record was). Their head
coach? None other than Perry Mayor Jim Worrall. Also, you’ll probably recognize at least one name among
his players: Lee Martin, Lindy Evans, Jerry Langston, Charlie Etheridge, Derry Watson, Bobby Griffin, Jerry
Wilson and Larry Walker. In other news, the Perry City Council outlaws pinball machines and 350 people
are interviewed by the staff of the new Perry Manufacturing Company - a construction project costing a half
million.
30 years ago:
Then Perry Mayor James McKinley delivers the “state of Perry" summary. Among the positives: A new library, new
water plant, the construction of a supplemental gas plant, new water and sewer lines, paving of all city dedicated
streets, resurfacing of many of the older streets, renovation of the Central Business District, “improved relations
between oug.races”, “a new and true sense of pride among our citizenry," and “improved confidence in local elected
officials and many, many other changes." In other news, the Perry City Council adopted an ordinance designed to
“severly limit” placement of “adult" businesses in the Perry area.
10 years ago:
The Houston County Commission agrees to ask members of the county to approve a one cent hike in local sales
taxt to provide for a new courthouse and jail. The total cost for the SPLOST: $44 million.
In other news, the new elementary school is named after longtime educator Matt Arthur and a medieval times
event - complete with jousting and sword fights - is held at the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter.
- Compiled by Don Moncrlef
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EMTs like Drew McNeil and Sabrina Sabine are part of the “golden hour” for many
trauma patients. From Houston County the nearest certified Trauma Center is at the
Medical Center of Central Georgia. Other parts of the state, especially in the southern
rural areas are not so fortunate.
Tax Reform
Another issue O’Neal
expects to be grappling
with is the controversial tax
reform plan being proposed
by House Speaker Glenn
Richardson.
O’Neal, who is a tax attor
ney himself, says that he
expects to be studying this
issue and hearing reports
from different groups right
up until the session begins.
He notes that Richardson’s
original “Great Plan for
Georgia,” which would have
6 to be honored for preserving old Perry schoo
Special to the Journal
On Tuesday at 1 p.m.,
the Houston County Board
of Education will honor
six individuals who played
major roles in preserving
the old Perry school, which
now houses the Board of
Education offices.
Those to be honored are
Perry Mayor Jim Worrall,
former House Majority
Leader Larry Walker, former
U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, for
mer School Superintendent
Tony Hinnant, former
HCBOE Facilities Director
Bill Loudermilk, and histo
rian-advisor Bobbe Hickson
Nelson.
According to Billy Powell,
one of the organizers of she
event, “With many schools
being torn down throughout
abolished all property (or
ad valorem) taxes, replacing
the revenue by broadening
the sales tax to cover food
and services, has been cut
back considerably.
The plan now being pro
posed would drop the ad
valorem taxes on automo
biles (although there would
be a tag fee) and the school
portion of ad valorem taxes
on homes, but not business
es.
It leaves city and county
governments with their prop
The honorees:
El Perry Mayor Jim Worrall
H Former House Majority Leader Larry Walker
H Former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn
H Former School Superintendent Tony Hinnant
H Former HCBOE Facilities Director Bill Loudermilk
ii Historian Bobbe Hickson Nelson
the state, these individuals
were instrumental in pre
serving and renovating the
old Perry school built in
1925.”
Here’s the story behind
the preservation, according
to Powell.
In 1988, the building, used
only as a book repository,
was more than 60 years old
and in serious disrepair.
Worrall spearheaded a
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Joumal/Charlotte Perkins
erty tax revenues intact.
The sales tax would not go
up in terms of amount per
dollar, but would be broad
ened.
O’Neal, who believes that
some form of tax reform
is long overdutgiu Georgia,
sees this issue as one that
the voters of Georgia can
decide by referendum and
says that his main concern
over the next few weeks
would be making sure that
the plan will in no way dam
age school funding.
drive the following year to
save the old building. He
enlisted the support of local,
county, and state govern
ments, and saw the Board
of Education move into the
renovated structure in 1996
after restoration was com
pleted.
Walker ensured the suc
cess of the seven-year resto
ration project by providing
See SCHOOL, page SA
*
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hly@evansnewspapers.com.
INDEX
OBITUARIES 3A
OPINION 6A
SPORTS 1B
COMICS 3B
FOOD 1C
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