Newspaper Page Text
Foy Evans passes away
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FOYS. EVANS
Volume 138, Number 22
FRONT PORCH
"Where neighbors meet"
HHJ history
50 years ago:
The 15-year-old Houston County
youth accused of murdering a 16-
year-old Montezuma boy (see pre
vious HHJ histories) is acquitted.
The jury deliberates for two hours
and 15 minutes before returning
the verdict. Of particular note in
the testimony is reportedly the fact
the Montezuma youth had taken
the gun away from the 15-year-old
before the shooting occurred.
In other news, Centerville (which
by the way is 50 years old as
of this month) begins setting up
operations. To that end, several
city officials are sworn in.
30 years ago:
A “squabble” - as described
by the newspaper report - over a
school district rezoning dominates
the Houston County Board of
Education's regular session. The
dispute originates from Greebriar
Subdivision residents who argue
their children would be better
off if they were transferred from
the predominately black Elberta
Elementary School to Parkwood.
The school board ends the squab
ble by saying a decision would not
be made on any rezoning until the
end of the school year.
10 years ago:
Perry Police Chief George
Potter leads by example. He is
shown pictured taking a hit of pep
per spray to the face. The picture
is taken during training all Perry
Police Department members are
taking on use of the spray. “All"
eventually followed Potter's lead,
according to the caption.
Also, Houston County
Commission Chairman J. Sherrill
Stafford announces he will seek
another term and Larry Thompson
announces his candidacy for the
county commission.
- Compiled by Don Moncrief
Birthdays
March 15
Danny Evans
March 16
Alex Sapp
Ronnie Minter
March 17
Trish Nelson
March 18
81 Wanda Turpin
Brenda Horton
Getter Newspaper
Contest
PERIODICAL 500
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By CHARLOTTE PERKINS
Journal Staff Writer
Foy Evans, newspaperman,
founder of The Warner Robins
Daily Sun and former two-term
mayor of Warner Robins died
Friday morning. His published
writing - from coverage of ball
games to commentary on national
politics and everything in between
- covered a span of more than 70
years.
He was 88 and had been in fail
ing health since December.
Visitation will be from 7-
9 p.m. Sunday at McCullough
Funeral Home in Warner Robins.
The funeral service will be 11
LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY,
CITY OF PERRY, CITY OF WARNER ROBINS AND CITY OF CENTERVILLE
Vision 2020 endorses 1 animal shelter
By DON MONCRIEF
Journal Managing Editor
Vision 2020 is either going to be
in the doghouse or the BIG DOG
depending on how well its latest
recommendation is received.
“The city, we’ve had a tough time
going with this animal shelter,”
said Warner Robins Councilman
Terry Horton while speaking to his
Culverhouse leaving Westfield
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Westfield softball players Daryl Ann Thompson, Kelsey Gilliam and Mason Moreland stand with girl’s varsity softball
coach Rodney Culverhouse, who will be leaving Westfield at the end of the school term.
'lt was more than about softball'
By MA TTHEW BROWN
Journal Sports Writer
Think Westfield fast-pitch softball
in the 21st century and think of
championships. Think of one region
championship after another, and
think of two GISA state champion
ships.
Think also of the man in charge of
the Lady Hornet program for when
all those years were added to the list
of title-winning years at Westfield.
That man, Rodney Culverhouse, will
take a new direction in his life once
this school term is completed. As he
and the Culverhouse family make
plans for a move to Williamsburg,
Va., the coach doesn’t want his sole
“legacy” to be about a winning ball
team.
“I hope it was more of a coach
that cared about his players,” said
Culverhouse. “That I would do any
thing for them, not necessarily relat
ing to softball, but to anything in
life.
“There’s always someone else who’s
going to win another (championship).
I’m glad we were able to have the suc
cess that we did, but I hope it wasn’t
at the expense of sacrificing charac
ter and the things that will take you
"He was as solid as Stone Mountain granite. He
was a great Houston Countyian. He always saw
the big picture. He was smart and interesting. He
always wanted what was best for the county, and
he was a great mayor of Warner Robins/'
-Larry Walker
a.m. Monday at Central Baptist
Church.
Mayor Donald Walker of Warner
Robins ordered the city’s flags
lowered to half-mast as a tribute
to Evans.
“This is hard for me,” Walker
Saturday, March 15, 2008
fellow 2020 advisory group mem
bers during their regular meeting
Wednesday. “I don’t know how
much support, and I’m primarily
speaking as ‘one’ councilman ... I
don’t know how much support I’d
get from the mayor and other coun
cilmen ... I just want to put this out
for discussion.
“We’ve run into all kinds of prob
"I’m glad we were able to have the success that we
did, but I hope it wasn't at the expense of sacrificing
character and the things that will take you further
in Hfe. Softball is going to end, and lifers going to
continue."
- Westfield softball coach Rodney Culverhouse
further in life. Softball is going to
end, and life’s going to continue.”
Some of those Lady Hornet players
don’t want to think about continuing
on without Culverhouse, though they
surely will come August.
“That’s going to be hard,” said ris
ing senior infielder Mason Moreland,
with a “wow” added for emphasis.
“He was a huge influence on all of us,
and we’re going to miss him. He just
made us work really hard at practice.
He never gave up on us.”
“I think you see the attitude that
my players have,” said Culverhouse.
“The way I try to set my example in
front of them.”
Culverhouse has lived in Macon
all of his life. He admits that he
didn’t have a storied or stellar ath
letic career himself.
said, his voice breaking, “He was
one of my advisors, and he helped
me lot. He was brilliant - a won
derful man.”
Gov. Sonny Perdue said, “Foy
Evans was the embodiment of
a true public servant. From his
lems. Everywhere we try to locate it,
we get citizens upset, don’t approve
of the location. They don’t approve
of our hours. They don’t approve of
the way we’re putting the animals
down. There’s just a lot of prob
lems.
“Is there any consideration to
having one central, county-wide
thing?”
“I played a little high school ball in
Macon,” said Culverhouse. “Through
about my 10th grade year. I just
enjoyed the game enough that I
became a student of baseball so to
speak. It was always one of my pas
times ... looking it as an outsider
looking in.
“I don’t know. I’ve just been fortu
nate, been blessed.”
In 2000, Culverhouse first came to
Westfield as B-team softball coach.
That was the last season for slow
pitch softball in the GISA. He said
the varsity head coach in 2000, Leigh
Ann (Johnson) Champion, didn’t
want to lead the program in fast
pitch and suggested that he take over
as head coach.
“She didn’t feel like she wanted
See SOFTBALL, page 4B
service in the Navy to his eight
years as Mayor of Warner Robins,
he always put his nation and his
neighbors above himself. As found
er of The Daily Sun, his life’s work
literally involved every facet of the
community. Foy was known and
loved across Middle Georgia, and
while he will be deeply missed, his
legacy will live on.”
Larry Walker of Perry, a long
time state leader, and fellow-col
umnist ,at the Houston Home
Journal, said of Evans, “He
was as solid as Stone Mountain
granite. He was a great Houston
Countyian. He always saw the big
See EVANS, page lA
www.hhjnews.com
In other words, not one in Perry,
one in Centerville and one in Warner
Robins, but one period.
And the answer: “100 percent
(in favor),” said Centerville Mayor
Bubba Edwards.
“We’ve got a unified animal con
trol ordinance now, ” said Vision 2020
and Houston County Commission
See SHELTER,page lA
Downtown WR
The future
is a ’dotted'
landscape
By DONMONCRIEF
Journal Managing Editor
It was all about the big
picture - both figuratively
and literally.
Thus explains why at least
100 Houston County resi
dents could be seen Tuesday
in the halls of the civic center
busy placing dots about the
size of a dime on a human
sized map of Warner Robins
hanging on the wall. (Note:
It was a Warner Robins exer
cise but the word “Houston
County” is used because
there were some recogniz
able faces from Perry noted
among the crowd.)
There were actually six
maps and the same number
of workstations. The maps
also had an area marked off
- bordered in red tape - to
annotate areas designated as
Warner Robins’ “downtown”
and as targets for redevelop
ment. The areas extended
north to as far as Kings Dr.,
west to Pleasant Hill, east
to the outskirts of Robins
Air Force Base and south to
Russell Pkwy.
The dots in turn were color
coded - red, green and blue.
Red stood for the worst plac
es in Warner Robins. Green
stood for the best and blue
stood for areas where county
residents felt a team from
Urban Design Association
out of Pittsburgh, Penn.,
should spend most of their
efforts designing/redesign
ing.
The Urban Design
Association team, which
was brought in by the local
Urban Redevelopment
Agency, under the leader
ship of Executive Director
Gary Lee, was the driver
behind the “dot” exercise, as
well as providing the meat of
the meeting in general.
In regard to the dots, UDA
asked each attendee to place
his or her dots accordingly
to the aforementioned col
ors. For instance, in the
actual exercise, a consider
able amount of red dots were
placed at the area of First,
Second and Third streets,
See FUTURE, page lA