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Perry football to open 'OB against Northside JiiwsTOt Maw Jaatttul ***** '***** Volume 138, Number 003 lIIQI AP* Local: Three suspects assault Warner Robins man. Smoke alarm saves family in trailer fire. Sports: Basketball wrapups INOIUEi from this past weekend. Also, Warner Robins swimmers first at Colquitt meet. Food: A new look at slow cookers. More. Will you be next? 13 graduate tire department recruit schaol By DON MONCRIEF Journal Managing Editor They say 13 is an unlucky number but not so for these recent Houston County Fire Department recruit school graduates. In fact, you should be so lucky - if you’re unlucky to start with it also has to be said - to have one of these - Rebecca Cowan, James Collins, Jeremy Easterling, Angelina Ciapponi, Judith Long, John Wesley Lee Jr., Ricardo Myrell, Dustin Talley, Adam Hartley, Michael Jones, Wallace Glaze, Jonathan Brady or Betti Baggett - show up on scene for an accident Barnes and Nobel WBK -,;iM>i,- 1% jH'^pv '-BF I L dsBB 1 "^' z ; ■ Jam l f :' ENI/Gary Harmon Cainon Barnes and Hunter Whiting work on their Lego robot during the Third Annual FIRST Lego League Regional Qualifier Robotics Tournament held Saturday at the Museum of Aviation. For more, see 7A. Perry son set for return from Iraq Special to the Journal The son of a local Perry resident, according to a release, will return this month from a four-month deployment to Tikrit, Iraq. Lydia Zammit will be visiting her son, Matthew Darryl Zammit, in Fuquay Varina, N.C., at the end of this month. Zammit is a 22-year veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He has been to Iraq before - during Operation Desert Storm in - but this time has been deployed as a civil ian Logistics Armament Representative - an PERIODICAL 500 mm 8 "55108 00001* 4 l>i)lailiaiiii>illai»»aliitat>ii Georg»a Newspaper Project Mar. \Jbrar* Umversty of Georgia ATHENS GA 306Q2 ALL FOR ADC 301 January 9,2008 Serving Houston County Since 1870 LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY, CITY OF PERRY, CITY OF WARNER ROBINS AND CITY OF CENTERVILLE BIRJHDAYS Jan. 8 sfKgf fll Ken Bussell ■ Jared Hardy (Happy-' IBthl*. \ ¥ tg* 11 M ' Junior Ball H ■ Joan Wimberly ■ Dylan Weeks i S Reggie Thomas - * • Leigh Hill or donm@«Vanshewspapers. com. Mail to: 1210 Washington ..St., Perry 31066 BttmJMjg Moncnef. Or, cail 987-1823, Ext. 231. w \ I ‘ By MATTHEW BROWN Journal Sports Writer Only two football teams in Houston County made the GHSA playoffs at the end of the 2007 season. Those two teams are slated to kick-off both the 2008 and 2009 campaigns. “Right now, we are going to open up with Northside,” said Perry High head you’ve been involved in or respond to a fire affecting you and/or your family, or be your rescuer for some other emergency. The aforementioned 13 recently completed 240 hours of training. The first 40 of that - the class itself began in July and didn’t end until their recent graduation in mid-December - was “first responder” training, “which basically enables them to perform the medical side of the fire department,” said Assistant Fire Chief Kevin Noles, “first to arrive on scene, that sort of thing.” See SCHOOL, page jA advisor for the Department of Defense - for an Army unit based out of Fort Bragg, NC. He deployed in late September, according to the release, and while in Iraq was responsible for the maintenance and repair of all manner of weapons systems. In addition, his duties included teaching and inspecting weapon sys tems in the area of operations. He is a 1983 graduate of Perry High School and most of his family still resides in the area. “We are very proud of Matthew,” said See RETURN, page GA This week in HHJ history: 50 years ago: Here’s an interesting item. Seems back in 1958, the City of Perry had a Teen Age Driver of the Month program - sponsored by Perry PTA - going, in which a "secret committee of adults" observed the “habits” of the city’s teen age population and then rated them on “courtesy and driving ability." Could our teens of today use incentive such as this? And, oh by the way, January’s winner was 16-year-old Perry High School junior Thomas Hunt. In other news, then Perry Mayor Stanley E. Smith says that a $250,000 bond issue is necessary if the city is to provide the “basic services’’ for its rapidly expanding population. The mayor says water and sewer facilities are “overtaxed now” and the city is growing at 80 to 100 familes - approximately 325-400 persons - per year, and not keeping up. 30 years ago: The Houston County Sheriff’s Office annouces it cleared 74 percent of the 871 cases it investigated the prior year. This, it also reports, is in stark contrast to the national average of 15 percent, according to Sheriff Cullen Talton. In other news, the Board of Education votes to meet twice monthly, one in Perry and once in Warner Robins. 10 years ago: Westfield School begins a $1.5 million capital funds drive, money to help fund the first phase of as 7 million cam pus expansion plan. Included the first phase - the total project is estimated to allow the school to accommodate 800 students - is a new kindergarten building for K-4 and K-5, a new field house, a new administration building and some campus traffic-flow changes. Also, local businessmen Rusty Wood and Steve Byrd earn major honors at the 42nd Perry Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting. Wood receives the Seabie Hickson Award and Byrd is named the volunteer of the year. - Compiled by Don Moncrief ('Wednesday, January 9, 2008 coach Andy Scott. Scott’s Panthers had a nine-win season in 2007 and advanced to the quarterfinals of Class AAA. The Northside Eagles are two-time defend ing state champions of Class AAAA, but will be a Class AAAAA school in the fall. “It’s a real game,” said Scott, whose team scrimmaged Northside the previ Perry Primary School celebrates Gold Award By DON MONCRIEF Journal Managing Editor As Perry Primary Principal Elgin Mayfield joked: “This is his award. I’m just here to accept it.” “He” is Harold Sapp, who was Perry Primary’s principal for six years. He is now the principal at Hilltop Elementary School. Mayfield was Northside’s band teacher for a number of years. He left there to serve as assis tant principal of instruc tion at Parkwood for two years, before moving to Perry Primary - this being his first year there. He shouldn’t - prob ably isn’t worrying too much that the award, which is the Gold Award for Student Achievement from the Governor’s Office, might not be his alone - in terms of being the principal at the time. That’s because consider ing Perry Primary’s track record of success, there’s a very, very good chance f 'mm pf Journal/Don Moncrief From left, former Perry Primary School Principal Harold Sapp and current Perry Primary Principal Elgin Mayfield receive a certificate of recognition for their Gold Award for Student Achievement, Monday during a ceremony at the school. ous two seasons. “We’re going to scrim mage with Houston County. “We do not have a (week 2) game yet, but on (week 3) we play Hawkinsville.” Scott said the two-year series with Northside is tentatively scheduled to take place at McConnell-Talbert See OPEN, page iB "The teachers really bought into it. They did a super job. We provided the training and expertise and they just did the rest. They went into the classrooms and made it happen.” - Former Perry Primary Principal Harold Sapp he’ll be standing up there again - there being the school’s cafeteria where staff members and dig nitaries gathered Monday for a Gold Celebration - next year ... and the year following ... and on and on. You see not only was Perry Primary recog nized as being in the top three percent, or 97th percentile for the great est gains in the percent age of students- who met and exceeded standards on the 2007 Criterion- Referenced Competency Test, as well as had at least 30 percent of its stu dent exceed standards, and the school itself made "II //('/(' >/ S ///('('/ C an Evans Family Newspaper www.hhjnews.com Adequate Yearly Progress for at least three consecu - tive years - those three things are what the Gold Award represent - it is also currently an eight time recipient of the Title 1 Distinguished School Award. “This is a great testa ment to this school and all the many hours of hard work and dedication,” said Sen. Ross Tolleson, who presented the award to both Sapp and Mayfield. Added Mayfield: “What we are here to celebrate is an achievement that’s only made by a very small number of schools in a state in a year See GOLD, page SA r. f., Know someone or an agency that could use a pat on the back? Send your “ Kudos " to hhj@evansnewspapers. com. INDEX OBITUARIES 3A OPINION 4A SPORTS IB COMICS 4B FOOD 1C Award-Winning Newspaper Better Newspaper Contest